The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the actions in our lives that contribute to fulfilling Jesus' message about the Law.
The reading from the Second Letter to Corinthians offers a contrast with the Hebrew Covenant.
* [3:7] The ministry of death: from his very first words, Paul describes the Mosaic covenant and ministry from the viewpoint of their limitations. They lead to death rather than life (2 Cor 3:6–7; cf. 2 Cor 4:7–5:10), to condemnation rather than reconciliation (2 Cor 3:9; cf. 2 Cor 5:11–6:10). Was so glorious: the basic text to which Paul alludes is Ex 34:29–35 to which his opponents have undoubtedly laid claim. Going to fade: Paul concedes the glory of Moses’ covenant and ministry, but grants them only temporary significance.
* [3:8–11] How much more: the argument “from the less to the greater” is repeated three times (2 Cor 3:8, 9, 11). 2 Cor 3:10 expresses another point of view: the difference in glory is so great that only the new covenant and ministry can properly be called “glorious” at all. (2 Corinthians, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)
Psalm 99 offers praise to God for His Holiness.
* [Psalm 99] A hymn to God as the king whose grandeur is most clearly seen on Mount Zion (Ps 99:2) and in the laws given to Israel (Ps 99:4). Israel is special because of God’s word of justice, which was mediated by the revered speakers, Moses, Aaron, and Samuel (Ps 99:6–8). The poem is structured by the threefold statement that God is holy (Ps 99:3, 5, 9) and by the twice-repeated command to praise (Ps 99:5, 9). (Psalms, PSALM 99, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus addresses the Law and the Prophets in the Sermon on the Mount.
* [5:17–20] This statement of Jesus’ position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from Matthew’s sermon documentation (see note on Mt 5:1–7:29), other Q material (cf. Mt 18; Lk 16:17), and the evangelist’s own editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away nothing of the law will pass (Mt 5:18). Yet the “passing away” of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of the existing universe. The “turning of the ages” comes with the apocalyptic event of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and those to whom this gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah as the time of “new heavens and a new earth” (Is 65:17; 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus’ ministry when the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the following antitheses (Mt 5:21–48) show.
* [5:19] Probably these commandments means those of the Mosaic law. But this is an interim ethic “until heaven and earth pass away.” (Matthew, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)
Vivian Amu comments that what seems to matter or create any movement toward goodness within any individual is what we do after we acknowledge laws, rules, regulations, and vows.
Do we let them propel us forward to care for others and ourselves? Do we follow through with a willingness to grow and let others grow? Do we find ourselves called to spend time with those needing a bit of love and companionship? Do we allow ourselves to search for the courage to do what is right, even without immediate gratification? Can we let go of preferred outcomes and wait for God to reveal God's self to us in new and glorious ways? I hope my reverence and observance of any laws, rules, and vows will only point me in the direction of goodness and never hinder my spirit or harden my heart.
Merciful and loving God, please help me live out your commandments for your Glory. Amen (Amu, 2023)
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)
[Note: Chromatius was an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome described him as a "most learned and most holy man."] (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19 comments that every one of our desires and hopes and dreams finds its fulfilment in all that Jesus said and did while he walked the earth. He completes us! His love can bind husbands and wives and children together as a family. His mercy can banish the guilt and shame of all of our sins. His call to “Come, follow me” can give new purpose and meaning to all we do (Matthew 19:21). His healing power can cover and sustain us in our suffering. And his teaching—especially in the Beatitudes—can point us along the way to a happiness that the world can never take away.
Jesus didn’t come to “abolish” your life (Matthew 5:17). He didn’t come to overpower you or to condemn you. He came to complete you. He is the “missing piece” we all long for and the only One who can make full sense of our personal history. Why would we ever look anywhere else?
“Jesus, you are the missing piece in my life!” (Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19, n.d.)
Fr Jack Mahoney SJ, Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in London University and a former Principal of Heythrop College, University of London, comments that in the main body of the sermon we can see three sections which spell out the new ‘righteousness’ expected of Christian disciples in their relationship with God: first, an updating of the Ten Commandments in the light of Jesus’s moral teaching, making it quite clear that they were not being dispensed with; then, an exhortation that disciples give a new quality to their regular religious practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, which is superior to that of the Jews; and finally, a stress on the need for total trust in God throughout their life.
The first section, in the remainder of Matthew 5, contains six moral antitheses, contrasting the traditional Jewish teaching of the Ten Commandments with radical moral principles enunciated by Jesus, each introduced by ‘I say to you’ (Mt 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44). These go behind the letter of the commandments to the core of the external actions and behaviour which were forbidden by them, internalising morality and showing how it begins in the heart, long before the action takes place. (Mahoney, 2011)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that Paul contrasts the Covenant of condemnation with the awe we have through the presence of the Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount, likely written by a converted Pharisee, describes Jesus' fulfilment of the Law and contrasts with themes of Paul and the Law. Friar Jude notes the demographic change as Christians came more from Gentile traditions after being expelled from the synagogues.
James Finley shares how he experienced “the oneness of presence that alone is ultimately real” when he was a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemane.
The third day of my God-breathing way of life fell on a Sunday…. As I walked along [a] narrow dirt path with its overarching canopy of trees, I paused and touched a leaf hanging from a low-lying branch. As I touched the leaf, I looked up and saw a single cloud hanging in the clear blue sky and whispered, “It’s one!” The infinite presence of God I was breathing, the cloud in the sky, the leaf I was touching, the earth on which I was standing, and the immediacy of feeling myself blessed and awakened to this all-encompassing presence were, in that instant, realized to be inexplicably and all-pervasively one. Please know that the words I am using in attempting to describe this intimately realized oneness are impoverished in a superficial, wordy kind of way compared to the transcendent oneness beyond words that I was so graced and privileged to experience. (Finley, 2023)
We are prompted by the Spirit to internalise the fulfilment of the Law as Jesus presents to us.
References
Amu, V. (2023, June 14). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/061423.html
Finley, J. (2023, June 14). Sustained Breath by Breath — Center for Action and Contemplation. Daily Meditations Archive: 2023. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/sustained-breath-by-breath-2023-06-14/
Mahoney, J. (2011, July 13). The Shape of the Sermon on the Mount. Thinking Faith. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110713_1.htm
Matthew, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5?17
Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/06/14/706459/
Psalms, PSALM 99. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/99?5
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Great Are Those Who Teach and Obey the Commandments. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jun14
2 Corinthians, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/3?4
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