6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
God gave us the Law so grace we would seek; God gave us the grace so the Law we would keep!
The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon, ever. Understanding the Sermon, however, is difficult. For many, Jesus is merely another preacher proclaiming another message among the many. The Sermon is more than a collage of beautiful, paradoxical sayings. Many interpret the Sermon exactly as that. They read this sermon as idyllic not as a reality. As an ideal, the possibility of keeping the teachings of the Sermon fades. It is too demanding. Instead of seeking divine transformation to adhere to the demands, many dismiss or worse deny the reality and power contained in the teaching. Some, however, do believe in the perfection taught. Jesus meant what He said, “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matt 5:48); and gives us the grace to do what He said: All things are possible” (Matt 19:26).
Careful reading of the Sermon, Jesus does not portray Himself as another preacher. He proclaims Himself as the One and Only. He is the New Moses, the One Who interprets the law. In his statement, “You have heard that it was said to the men of old” (Mt 5:21), Jesus declares Himself greater than Moses. He declares Himself as the promised prophet Moses foretold (Deut 18:15). This declarative statement challenges our thinking asking us to decide: Is Jesus truly the author and interpreter of the Law? If He is the author of the Law, then He and He alone authentically interprets the law. It is not debatable. We hear and do; or we are deaf and deny. For those who adhere eternal life is promised for those who are deaf, Jesus will deny, saying, “I never knew you” (Matt 7:21-23).
Our decision goes beyond an external obedience to the Law. Through the Sermon, Jesus invites us into a covenant—a sacred friendship—with the Law Giver. He not only teaches us the Law but empowers us to keep the law. He promises to give us his Spirit to do so. Through his Spirit, an internal transformation takes place. Infused love perfects us.
The dilemma becomes real as we make our decision: Do I trust Jesus to be the author of the Law of Love? Do I trust that if I believe in Him, I shall be made perfect? I will have holiness here and happiness in heaven! Do I believe the teachings of the Sermon are the real way, the absolute truth, and the perfection of my life?
Perfection, as many interpret, is impossible, but the Sermon declares its possibility: Nothing is impossible for God (Matt 5:28). Calling us to perfection, Jesus rightly reveals how poor we are outside God’s life. Realizing our poverty: material, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, is a blessing. Being poor in spirit is not a curse. It is a blessing. We know in our hearts we are made for perfection. This desire drives us to seek perfection through God’s grace.
Unless we experience our human weakness, seeing ourselves as a mere child limited and imperfect, we will not understand the profundity and penetration of Jesus’ divine Wisdom being preached. Perfection is possible, obviously not by our human strength, but by the divine power of God, Whom Jesus tells us is Our Father. He is our Father; we are his divine children. This is the key to understand the Sermon correctly. Our Father sees our poverty, neediness, and hunger. Seeing our neediness, He offers a new way. His hope invites us to turn to Him as a child, asking for what we want, but He, instead, gives us what we need — Himself! He adopts us then teaches us.
Jesus exposes our need for a heavenly Father as He expounds on six major struggles we face: anger, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemy. These six antheses appear to be opposite of what Moses taught. However, they are not opposed to the Mosaic Law, but fulfill the purpose of the Law. To remove any sinfulness in our hearts by putting in them the Law of Love.
The burden of these six antitheses shocks his listeners. He is calling us to excellence, integrity of heart, far beyond our capability. Yet, this excellence drives our desires to become perfect.
To explain these antitheses, Jesus begins with anger. Anger is a virtue. It is an act of justice to correct the faults of another or ourselves. Just anger leads to reconciliation and redemption, never to division and degradation. Jesus wants us to reconcile first rather than become unjustly angry, wrathful, demeaning a person declaring them a fool (fool has the meaning of moron). To prevent anger from turning into slander or worse murder, Jesus counsels reconciliation. Without reconciling first with our neighbor, how can we be reconciled with God?
Next, Jesus explains the sanctity of the marital covenant. Man and woman complete and perfect, entrusting themselves to each other as a sincere gift. This is the gift of faith. Husband and wife believe in the other as worthy of all my love. Faith sees the sanctity of the person and honors his or her dignity. Offering another the gift of self honors the gift God gave to us. He gave Himself to us inviting us to give ourselves faithfully to Him. In this exchange, we covenant ourselves with God, loving him with all our heart, mind, and body. Rooted in God’s covenant, we covenant ourselves with our beloved.
In contrast, even the thought to use another person is sinful. Worse are the consequences for the person used. They suffer betrayal and think of themselves as an object not a person. Some tragically think of themselves as a prostitute feeling unworthy of any respect. Disgraced, they may enter a vicious cycle of broken or abusive relationships leading to destructive even dysfunctional behaviors. Ultimately, many believe they are unworthy of love, even God’s love. Jesus, however, reveals the sanctity of our personhood telling us to cut off any desire that leads to use or abuse. Through his teaching, Jesus inspires us to live in a covenantal relationship with the Father. United properly to God, we faithfully unit with our spouse, children, and neighbor.
Oaths are solemn promises invoked when public accountability is demanded. Oaths call upon God as our witness blessing us if we keep the oath, cursing us if we fail. Other than public accountability, each person ought to be a person of their word: Yes is yes, No is no. Friends do not need oaths because they trust each other. This trust comes from self-respect. Respecting ourselves, we show respect to another, not because they deserve it but because of who I am. I am a Christian, a disciple of Christ.
Opposite of respect is retaliation. It incites revenge. To counter this, the Lord says, “Vengeance is mine” not yours (Rom 12:17; Heb 10:17). To correct our bitterness at the injustices endured in our friendships, Jesus tells us to
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Mt 5:44
God the Father loves us all. Strangely, those who hurt, even abuse others, are most in need of mercy, not condemnation. We, who have been redeemed, realize the mercy we received and offer mercy to those filled with envy. Why? We blessed with unmerited mercy bless others with that mercy.
Loving is the essence of the Divine. Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad, so too God offers mercy to all no matter how broken, abused, evil, or hurt we may feel. God’s love embraces all. Embraced “we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation (Rom 5:11). Reconciled, the power and wisdom of the six antitheses perfects us. No longer governed by our imperfections, God infuses the Law of Perfection, The Sermon on the Mount, into our souls.
Perfection opens our hearts to obey the Father, not through external obedience, but internal reverence. Made for perfection, God’s truth, goodness, and beauty draws us away from our immaturity calling us to maturity. This mature faith is the light of divine life directing us. In this light, we, with God’s fatherly care:
• Discipline our anger.
• Purify our passions
• Live by covenantal love.
• Are true to our words because we are sealed in Truth
• Act mercifully for we have received mercy.
• Love unconditionally even our enemies, and we do good to those who hurt us.
The New Law Christ proclaims no longer is external and juridical as that of Moses but an internal and infused love perfecting our heart. Our Father’s expectations challenge us but Christ draws us into his strength and fills us with his Spirit that instead of fearing and fleeing from perfection, we embrace and accept Christ
who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.
Eph 3:20
demanding of us not solely human perfection, but the union or restoration of the human and divine perfection in which we were originally created.
In prayer then, we meditate on the beginning of the Sermon seeing the eight beatitudes not as nice, cute sayings; but as the means to which we grow in perfection.
Now read the Beatitudes:
Spiritual hunger is poverty of Spirit.
Spiritual mourning sees our sinfulness and the sinfulness of the world.
Spiritual meekness knows our strength and power is divine.
Spiritual righteousness means we live according to the love and law of God.
Spiritual purity means we, faith-filled, eliminate anything that would taint or damage our relationship with Our Father.
Spiritual peace (shalom) allows us to rest in our Father’s love and invite others into harmony with our Father.
Spiritual peace also allows us to endure the persecutions and evils of this world, for our strength comes from the Holy Spirit Who empowers us to bear witness to the Divine Love in which we live.
We are his children. This is the heart of the Sermon. God is Our Father, Jesus is our Brother and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are adopted, and through adoption are transformed into divine children.
Because of Original Sin our human fathers and families are so disjointed, even dysfunctional. We need true fatherhood and faithful family relationships. That is the point of the Sermon, we need a New Family — Kingdom — and this New Kingdom demands a new relationship with God.
Jesus tells us that as children of the Father, we must have a willing attitude of a child to enter this new restored relationship. This innocence creates simplicity giving us humility. Through humility, we allow God’s grace to transform our lives. No longer do we force the hand of God, but allow grace to guide and direct our lives.