Unless Your Holiness Surpasses…!

 (Homily 6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr-A)

        From the readings of this day emerge the theme of the rapport between law and freedom. Freedom has become almost like a cry that we often hear especially from the youth: freedom for this or freedom for that. What does man intend by freedom? Generally, it is conceived to be the possibility to follow one’s desires, to do and obtain what one wants, without censures or limitations of the law. God created man and He created him free. But God gave man a law on which to exercise his freedom. Not because he will not obey, but in order that he might obey freely. For this, the first reading affirmed that God “never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin” (Sir. 15:20). The true freedom of a Christian is the freedom to do what one ought to do and not what one wants.

        The catechesis on freedom begins with the explanation of freedom as the capacity to choose. To be a man is to live choosing, opting between one thing or the other. The little choices of everyday are to be guided by the fundamental choice that is the choice that Sirach spoke about in the first reading: choosing between good and evil, grace and sin. This ethical principle is not optional, it is inscribed in the laws of the human spirit, and as such, one cannot renounce them without renouncing at the same time one’s humanity, because not to choose is already a choice! The three readings of today are centered on the theme of freedom that is authentically Christian. In the first reading the sacred author made recourse to images to demonstrate the responsibility of man in his actions: “He set fire and water before you; put out your hand to whichever you prefer. A human being has life and death before him, whichever he prefers will be given him” (vv.16-17), this depicts the free will that God gave to man. In the Gospel Jesus went straight to the root cause of sinning and made the extra demands of the morality of the New Law: “You have heard that it was said…But I say to you”. Lastly, in the second reading St. Paul talks about a wisdom that is imparted to the mature, a superior wisdom that is mysterious, divine, hidden, which God revealed through his Spirit.

       The first reading (Sir. 15:16-21) constitutes the necessary premises to welcome the message of the Gospel, that is so profound, radical and exigent. The passage states clearly that each person has a free will. God does not force his commandments on us, neither is he responsible for the evil which exists in the world. As the author says in such a thought-provoking and frightening way, “Man has life and death before him; whichever a man likes better, will be given him.” One has to admit his responsibility be it in good or in bad, this is the first step towards interior conversion. The Bible knows very well about the human conditions and fragility, little wonder, it speaks also of the presence of Satan that leads to evil, but it does not excuse man when he commits evil. For this, the word of God averts us: “Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still master him” (Gn. 4:7). True obedience to God has to spring from a two-fold conviction: that God is not a tyrant interested on himself but a Father who is interested on our good, consequently, He does not impose any law on us. As the author posits: “For great is the wisdom of the Lord…The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him and he knows every deed of man”. His knowledge does not in any way infringe on the freedom of man!

        The Gospel (Mt. 5:17-37) passage presents one of the most difficult questions in the Jewish world. The question is: is it still necessary to observe the law of Moses, after the coming of Christ? And is this observance in conformity with the teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees? Summoning all the sayings of Jesus, St. Mathew took a position about this fundamental problem: Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to complete it: “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them” (v.17). With this affirmation, Jesus recognized the law of Moses and all the Old Testament as authentic revelation of the will of God, but at the same time, he evidenced its limitations and imperfections. With that programmatic sentence, that was part of his sermon on the mount, Jesus presented his identity card and summarizes his mission. Jesus established a line of continuity with the past (O.T.), this continuity is not mere repetition, but completion and deepening. The will of God interpreted and realized by Christ is superior to that of the Old Testament (represented by the law of Moses and the Prophets), especially as it was being interpreted by some Scribes and Pharisees. For six good times Jesus repeated the necessity of embracing the profundity of the New Law. He repeated it like a refrain: “You have heard that it was said…But I say to you”. Jesus speaks on his own name (I say to you) and with divine authority, manifesting therefore, his awareness of being the Messiah. Jesus presented himself to his disciples in the position and with authority as the “Supreme Legislator” of the New Law. The perfection and completion that Jesus brought is to be understood in the sense of a major radicality, of a more profound moral rigor and interiority. Jesus did not limit himself to the prohibition of some attitudes and extreme actions like homicide, adultery and swearing, he goes deeper and demands the fundamental dispositions of the heart and the change of heart, which is the root of every sentiment, intention and action. He helps us to understand that the exigencies of the will of God go beyond the teachings of the Scribes and the Pharisees, and what is indicated by the same Law of Moses. We need to go in-depth!

       As a matter of fact, the concrete examples that Jesus presented evidenced the major perfection of the New Law (the Gospel) with respect to the old Law: ►It is no longer enough to say do not kill your neighbor physically, there is need of respecting him or her. It is not enough to condemn the visible act of homicide, there is need of going deeper, to verify the internal or interior attitude or disposition. For one can kill through words, with judgment, with criticism, with calumny. You can morally and spiritually mortify, humiliate and kill with one’s attitude of superiority, arrogance and insolence. It is not enough, to say do not kill, it is necessary to comprehend how to show compassion, to pardon, in a word: to love. “If you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you. Leave your offering there…” (vv.23-24). Here, we see the urgency of reconciliation. You cannot honor God if your brother or sister is dishonored, you cannot claim to love God and not loving a brother, because God is first encountered in the neighbor. ►It is no longer enough the commandment: do not commit adultery. This is too little. Whoever looks at a person with a disordered desire, therefore considering the person a thing, an object to be used for oneself, as an object of pleasure, has already committed adultery in his or her heart. This is because adultery is first consummated interiorly, in the heart and in the mind, before it metamorphoses into an exterior material act. We need to differentiate between a lustful look and a gaze or an eye to beauty. It is true that we all take a second look at a beautiful person, but the lustful look goes further to wallow in sensual imaginations. We can remember vividly well the case of David and Bathsheba (2Sam. 11:1-5). Jesus insisted not only on the fact that sinful acts must be eliminated, but decisively to remove every occasion of sin, for this Jesus says: “if your eyes is an occasion for scandal for you… if your hand…”. ►It is not enough not to divorce  your wife with a writ of dismissal. But Jesus says everyone who his wife makes her an adulteress, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Thus, As we have adultery of the heart, we can also talk about divorce of the heart, when the husband or the wife lives with the other without love, or the heart is linked to another person. Many Christians (husbands and wives) for years are living in this kind of practical divorce, when between the husband and the wife there is not even the desire to forgive each other or to reconcile. When indifference and hostility are established that is practical divorce of the heart. ►Finally, in the new Law Jesus abolished swearing for vain and meaningless motives. The Jews had the attitude of swearing, and while swearing they invoke heaven or the temple in order to give authority and credibility to their words. But Jesus says: do not swear at all. We dare not say yes when we mean no, and no when we mean yes. The authority and the credibility of your words, of your promises, of your testimonies, must be founded in yourselves, in your rectitude and honesty.

        However, man’s quest for freedom has plunged him into moral quagmire, to the extent of using his freedom to reject the law. Thus, law and freedom became for man two stumbling blocks, instead of two wings that will help man to fly to God, as it was in God’s design. They (law and freedom) became two forces that push towards the opposite direction, which has made man sometimes to groan: “who will rescue me?” (Rm. 7:24). But Jesus comes to redeem humanity, by reconciling these two opposites. He raised the standard, just as we heard in the Gospel passage: “You have heard how it was said…But I say this to you…” Naturally, it has to do with introducing a new dimension to the law, no longer externally imposed and translated in thousands of different prescriptions, but they are interior to man, written on his heart (cf. Jer. 31:31-34), and condensed into one precept: “You must love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself” (Mt.22:37-39; Mk.12:30-31; Lk.10:27). The greatest novelty brought by Jesus is linking the law with eternal life. For this St. Paul says that “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rm. 13:10). Be that as it may, Jesus wants us to do away with every form of ambiguity and double joke. He wants us to be sincere and transparent in our rapport with God and with our neighbors. Through the passage of this Gospel Jesus has helped us to understand the most profound exigencies of the new Law. It is now left for us to embark on a journey of conversion and a change of conduct in the sense and direction indicated by Jesus.

        What more novelty did Jesus bring entering into the world? Indeed, another new thing Jesus brought to the world is Himself! He made himself the sacrament of reconciliation between the will of God and the freedom of man. In him truly “justice and peace embraced” (Ps. 84:11). The two forces that were drawing man opposite directions, in Christ reacquired the possibility of being united, thus directed towards God. In fact, Jesus was the supreme realization of the will of God and the supreme actualization of the human freedom. In his obedience “until death” the will of God and the free response of man are affirmed. And there point of convergence is called Love. He offered himself spontaneously to his Passion: “I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, I lay it down of my own free will, and as I have power to lay it down, so I have power to take it up again” (Jn. 10:17-18). Christ indeed is seen as the free man, who at his Passion freed and empowered others with his freedom (cf. Jn.8:36). By so doing, he traced for us a path through which we can follow him by imitation: “Brothers, you were called to be free; do not use your freedom as an opening for self-indulgence, but be servants to one another in love, since the whole of the law is summarized in the one commandment: You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:13-14). In the words of St. Peter: “You are slaves of no one except God, so behave like free people, and never use your freedom as a cover for wickedness” (1Pt. 2:16). Therefore, we are free, but like Jesus, free in order to serve God and our brothers and sisters. Though, the Masters of suspect like J. P. Sartre tried to negate the fact of human freedom, they say that man is condemned to freedom. Our freedom is not a condemnation but a call. Not only that we are called to imitate Jesus, he also gives us strength to follow him. Indeed, here consists his novelty, he did not abolish or substitute the law with grace, as it is said sometimes rather he gave the grace to observe the law, the Spirit to overcome the flesh. The most common conflict is caused by the flesh that refuses to obey the Spirit and tends to make freedom, as St. Peter said: “a veil to cover wickedness”.

        Indeed, all the discourse of Jesus reveal clearly the wisdom that comes from above, just as St. Paul expressed in the second reading (1Cor. 2:6-10), about a wisdom that is not of this world, “It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began” (v.7). This truly reveals all the novelty and the perfection of the evangelical message, which requires the orientation of the whole person, especially one’s heart, towards God and not just one’s exterior comportment. We could decipher from the words of St. Paul that the Christian freedom is not a wisdom of this world, rather it is a wisdom that comes from God, which God revealed to us through his Spirit, because where is the Spirit, there is true freedom (cf. 2Cor. 3:17). The Christian freedom in a pluralistic society like ours requires great discernment. We live in a context of religious, political and cultural pluralism. A pluralism that even touches the way we consider good and bad, and as such that touches and tends to condition our everyday choices. But a true free Christian acts under the action of the Spirit.

      Therefore, we are free, but like Jesus, free in order to serve God and our brothers and sisters. Though, the Masters of suspect like J. P. Sartre tried to negate the fact of human freedom, they say that man is condemned to freedom. Our freedom is not a condemnation but a call. Not only that we are called to imitate Jesus, he also gives us strength to follow him. Indeed, here consists his novelty, he did not abolish or substitute the law with grace, as it is said sometimes rather he gave the grace to observe the law, the Spirit to overcome the flesh. The most common conflict is caused by the flesh that refuses to obey the Spirit and tends to make freedom, as St. Peter said: “a veil to cover wickedness”.

    Above all, the first and second readings speak about the wisdom of God and no doubt, we need that wisdom to choose well, a wisdom which comes through the Spirit. St. Paul affirms that “the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God.” Therefore, it is the Spirit who enables us to choose “in-depth”, in line with the radicality and profundity demanded by Jesus. The Spirit enables us to make the kind of choices which are in line with what is deepest in us and, therefore more life-giving. In the Gospel reading, Jesus proposes a virtue which goes deeper than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, a virtue in-depth, from the heart. May the Spirit prompt us to choose always in accordance with our calling and dignity as God’s Children! Amen!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)