The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the gift of the Law in our life journey even as we experience the fullness of Life in the Spirit.
Love Spirit and Law
The reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians contrasts the Hebrew Covenant and the Spirit who gives life.
* [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.1
Psalm 99 gives 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).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus discusses the Law and the Prophets.
* [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.3
Beth Samson comments that we are reminded that Jesus’ teachings and God’s will for us are lived out, experienced, and embodied in the way we are in relationship with others.
In a “This I Believe” segment, Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, states “I watch what I do to see what I really believe. Belief and faith are not just words. It’s one thing for me to say I’m a Christian, but I have to embody what it means; I have to live it.” The Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, many of Jesus’ teachings recorded in the Gospels, guide us to live in right relationship with our community, with a preference for those most in need, oppressed, or looked past.4
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)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19 notes that when Jesus became a man, he united himself to our humanity in an intense and intimate way. And by doing so, he took all that his people, Israel, had learned and all they had become and created something new out of it: the family of the Church.
In the Gospel readings over the next few days, Jesus will be laying out what he wants life in his new family to look like: reconciliation between brothers and sisters, turning the other cheek, purity in marriage, and love for our enemies. All of this can sound intimidating at first. But always remember: you are part of a new family. You are a “new creation” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)! That means you are an heir to all the grace you need to live the life Jesus has called you to. So how will you fulfill the purpose and intentions of God’s laws today? “Thank you, Lord, for making me a new creation and bringing me into your family!”6
Friar Jude Winkler examines the authority given Paul by God to call out talents to build a Church witness to the glory of God. The technique of contrast with the Hebrew Testament is also present in the Letter to the Hebrews. Friar Jude comments on the demographics that oriented the Church more to Paul than Matthew.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Presbyterian minister Mihee Kim-Kort, who came to identify as queer [1] after she was ordained, married, and a mother. Once considered a pejorative, “queer” has been reclaimed by some LGBTQ people to describe themselves—and it reflects many attributes of a Christian incarnational view of the world!
What I realize I need and want to be a part of is a kind of work that cultivates the expansiveness of love. I dream often of the kind of world we could have for us, for our children, if we weren’t so concerned with regulating, disciplining, and closeting love all the time. If anything, it’s absolutely clear that this world needs more love. Rather than focusing so much energy on categorizing and classifying sexuality and making it conform to narrow representations, I long for our world to encourage lovemaking, to spark in those around me a desire to love ourselves and love each other into more life and love...Because if there’s anything I’ve learned about love, whether experienced among family, friends, or my children, it is that it is contagious and expands exponentially. It overflows the cup. Once released and liberated, it changes everything. . . .7
The interplay of the Spirit and the Law as guides for followers of Christ lead us to prayerful discernment of our role in community.
References
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