The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today address the relationship between God, wicked action, and our privileged sense of being special.
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In the reading from the Prophet Ezekiel we hear how God reacts when the wicked turn away from wickedness.
Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life.1
Waiting for Divine Redemption is the theme in Psalm 130, a Penitential Psalm which is the De profundis used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed.
* [Psalm 130] This lament, a Penitential Psalm, is the De profundis used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed. In deep sorrow the psalmist cries to God (Ps 130:1–2), asking for mercy (Ps 130:3–4). The psalmist’s trust (Ps 130:5–6) becomes a model for the people (Ps 130:7–8).2
In the Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches us concerning anger.
* [5:22–26] Reconciliation with an offended brother is urged in the admonition of Mt 5:23–24 and the parable of Mt 5:25–26 (//Lk 12:58–59). The severity of the judge in the parable is a warning of the fate of unrepentant sinners in the coming judgment by God.3
John Shea, S.J. comments that Jesus challenges the minimalist approach to the law. Jesus tries to explain how the teaching of the law and the prophets has an internal aspect that surpasses the simple literal interpretation. In other words, Jesus is trying to get people to understand the law as a way to love one another in a profound way that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees.
And this is a huge challenge. You can’t legislate love. You can’t demand that people love one another. Love must be freely given. And we don’t express our love on a balance sheet. Our first reading reminds us that if a wicked man turns away from his sins, he will live. It doesn’t matter what wicked deeds he performed in the past. None of those crimes will be remembered. Likewise, if a virtuous person turns from the path of virtue to do evil, then that person will die. It doesn’t matter how many great and virtuous deeds that person had performed in the past. There is no cosmic balancing sheet weighing our good deeds against our evil deeds.
Jesus re-interprets the commandment, “Do not kill,” to suggest that anger is a form of killing. Anger prevents us from reconciling with our loved ones and so can “kill” a relationship. I’m sure we can think of people who, out of anger, have cut a loved one out of their lives. We can act on our feelings of anger in ways that take the form of killing. To the extent that we allow our anger to cripple our relationships with others and with God, to the extent that our anger stifles healing and reconciliation, to the extent that our anger prevents us from loving others and God, then we are guilty of killing.4
Don Schwager quotes “Are you ashamed to ask pardon?” by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"How many there are who know that they have sinned against their brothers or sisters and yet are unwilling to say: 'Forgive me.' They were not ashamed to sin, but they are ashamed to ask pardon. They were not ashamed of their evil act, but they blush where humility is concerned." (excerpt from Sermon 211,4)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:20-26 comments that at first glance, these words seem very harsh. Surely Jesus wouldn’t put my anger on the same level as murder! Wouldn’t he understand if I put off reconciling with my brother or sister for a while longer?
For the answer, we have to look inside our hearts. Anger is a normal human emotion, but as with all other emotions, we should never let it control us. Just a brief look at the consequences of unchecked anger shows us how destructive it can be: domestic abuse, divorce, road rage, and yes, murder. Even hidden anger can be deadly. Concealed beneath the façade of a smile and a pleasant demeanor, it can lead to patterns of pride, jealousy, judgment, and gossip.
We can’t afford to overlook the resentments we may be holding against other people. The anger we have ignored can be like a poison meant for someone else that we have swallowed ourselves. This poison of bitterness and hostility can cast a shadow over us. It can contaminate our relationships and become the darkened lens through which we view the world. We can try to keep these feelings within us. We can dismiss them as not really threatening anyone. But sooner or later, we will have to deal with them, even if the person against whom we have these feelings has long left our lives.6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the attitude of those listening to Ezekiel to a commercial notion of credit for good and storage of grace that has also distorted modern Christian thinking. Relationship is what one does in the moment. Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus extends the law in a spiritual not scrupulous way.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, observes in the lives of Enneagram Fours a need to be special. This is primarily shaped by longing—for beauty, for love, for something lost. They wish that the world and life would fit together into a harmonic whole. Fours face the temptation to strive frantically for authenticity. Children, nature, and everything that radiates originality awakens in them the longing for the simplicity and naturalness that they lost at some point.
Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson write:
In the process of transformation, Fours let go of a particular self-image—that they are more inherently flawed than others, and that they are missing something that others have. They also realize that there is nothing wrong with them; they are as good as anyone else. And if there is nothing wrong with them, then no one needs to rescue them. They are entirely able to show up for themselves and create their own lives. . . . At this stage, Fours no longer need to feel different or special, seeing that, indeed, the universe has created only one of them, and that they are part of everything else—not isolated and alone.
When Fours abide in their true nature, they are one with the ceaseless creativity and transformation that are a part of the dynamics of Essence. [2]7
The specialness we sense in ourselves, like the Enneagram Fours, often appears as a sense of certain practices that do not apply to me. Our transformation to following spiritual law, as Jesus teaches, involves being opened to living in relationships of journey to truth, beauty, and goodness.
References
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