The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the nature of wide interpretation of the Law that involves prayerful meditation and attention to the Holy Spirit.
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| Looking at the Law |
The reading from the Book of Sirach underlines our Free Will and our choice to keep the commandments.
* [15:11–20] Here Ben Sira links freedom of the will with human responsibility. God, who sees everything, is neither the cause nor the occasion of sin. We have the power to choose our behavior and we are responsible for both the good and the evil we do (vv. 15–17).1
Psalm 119 declares the True Wisdom of God in His plan for our salvation.
* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them.2
In the passage from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul exhorts us to engage the Spirit as we explore the glories of God’s Law.
* [2:7–10a] God’s wisdom: his plan for our salvation. This was his own eternal secret that no one else could fathom, but in this new age of salvation he has graciously revealed it to us. For the pattern of God’s secret, hidden to others and now revealed to the Church, cf. also Rom 11:25–36; 16:25–27; Eph 1:3–10; 3:3–11; Col 1:25–28.3
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus teaches about fulfilling the Law and the Prophets concerning anger, adultery, divorce and oaths.
* [5:21–48] Six examples of the conduct demanded of the Christian disciple. Each deals with a commandment of the law, introduced by You have heard that it was said to your ancestors or an equivalent formula, followed by Jesus’ teaching in respect to that commandment, But I say to you; thus their designation as “antitheses.” Three of them accept the Mosaic law but extend or deepen it (Mt 5:21–22; 27–28; 43–44); three reject it as a standard of conduct for the disciples (Mt 5:31–32; 33–37; 38–39).4
Luis Rodriguez, S.J. notes that Jesus critiques a wisdom that is not the basis for holiness: unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees... A head-wisdom that knows the long list of dos and don’ts, but ignores the disposition of the heart, yet it is from the heart that sin comes, not from external non-compliance.
And he applies this disposition to three particular instances by saying: You have heard... but I say to you... First instance: you shall not kill; whoever kills will be liable to judgment, which Jesus expands into whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Anger in the heart is at the root of both murder and insult and it is from the heart that sin comes. Second instance: you shall not commit adultery, which Jesus expands into everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart, because lustful desires come from the heart and it is from the heart that sin comes. Third instance: do not take a false oath, which Jesus expands into do not swear at all. Swearing is prompted by mistrust –a mistrust that resides in the heart– and it is from the heart that sin comes.5
Don Schwager quotes “What you teach, you should do,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).
"While it is sinful to abolish the least of the commandments, all the more so the great and most important ones. Hence the Holy Spirit affirms through Solomon: 'Whoever despises the little things shall gradually die' (Sirach 19:1b). Consequently nothing in the divine commandments must be abolished, nothing altered. Everything must be preserved and taught faithfully and devotedly that the glory of the heavenly kingdom may not be lost. Indeed, those things considered least important and small by the unfaithful or by worldly people are not small before God but necessary. For the Lord taught the commandments and did them. Even small things point to the great future of the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, not only words but also deeds are important; and you should not only teach, but what you teach, you should do." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 20.2.1–3)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Sirach 15:15-20 comments on free will. It’s God’s greatest gift to us, and it’s also our riskiest characteristic. Free will has enabled us to decide for ourselves what kind of people we will be. It has enabled us to create music and art, to build cities and roads, to marry and have children. It has also enabled us to destroy instead of create, to hurt and betray instead of heal and build up. Most important, it’s through our free will that we decide whether to follow Jesus or our own thoughts and desires.
God also knows that free will has consequences. And so Sirach teaches, “Whichever he chooses shall be given him” (Sirach 15:17). While God honors our choices, he also respects the results those choices bring.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a real-life illustration: “Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:22). If you choose to nurture anger, resentment, and condemnation, don’t be surprised if other people begin treating you in the same way. But if you build an environment of trust and respect, that’s what you will receive.
So choose life today. Use this awesome gift of your free will to choose gentleness, patience, and all the other fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Above all, choose Jesus. Welcome him into your life, and let his love soften your heart. It’s the best choice you could ever make.7
Suzanne Guthrie remembers the time of her life and even the room where she read Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. The monk's gentle wisdom came to mind while reading this week's Gospel.
When we don't know why a person behaves toward us with hostility and we merely react in confusion, a "knot" is formed in us (meditation one). The root of anger is within ourselves and our lack of understanding (meditation two). But when we can see the cause and understand it, we can respond to the person causing us to be angry with compassion and detachment, understanding that person's suffering and behavior (meditation three).8
Friar Jude Winkler shares the history of the text from Sirach. Paul expresses the hidden Wisdom of God calling us to Love expressed as dying to ourself. Friar Jude discusses how Jesus “fence around the Law” is based on spiritual sources.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that Wisdom is not the result of mental effort. It cannot be gained through intellectual study. Even life experiences do not make us wise if we don’t process them humbly and consciously. Sadly, most of us were never taught how to do that, which is why so few older people are true elders, with any wisdom to pass on to the next generations.
My fellow CAC faculty member and respected wisdom teacher Cynthia Bourgeault writes of the deep interior commitment that must be made by those who embark on this path:
A Wisdom way of knowing . . . requires the whole of one’s being and is ultimately attained only through the yielding of one’s whole being into the intimacy of knowing and being known. . . . It doesn’t happen apart from complete vulnerability and self-giving. But the divine Lover is absolutely real, and for those willing to bear the wounds of intimacy, the knowledge of that underlying coherence—“in which all things hold together”—is both possible and inevitable. [1]
Since the Enlightenment, Westerners have become overly reliant on the intelligence of the mind, neglecting that of the heart and body. But by heart, I don’t mean just feeling and emotion. Cynthia Bourgeault calls the heart “an organ for the perception of divine purpose and beauty.” [2] Tilden Edwards, founder of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, describes the spiritual faculty of heart as “a quality of intuitive awareness . . . a sense of inclusive, compassionate, undefended, direct in-touch-ness with what is really there.” [3] This “undefended knowing” allows us to drop beneath the thinking mind, to touch upon real experience, unhindered by the ego’s sense of self, without fear or agenda.9
In our meditation, invoking the Spirit, we have the opportunity to seek the Wisdom that opens us to living in fulfillment of the Law.
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