Fulfil the Law and Prophets

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the impact of Jesus' expression of the Law on our action in relationship with people and Creation.

Living the Law and Prophets

The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy asserts that Moses commands obedience to the Law and cites the advantages of fidelity.

“Or what great nation has statutes and ordinances that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 4, n.d.)

Psalm 147 offers praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem.

* [147:15–19] God speaks through the thunder of nature and the word of revealed law, cf. Is 55:10–11. The weather phenomena are well known in Jerusalem: a blizzard of snow and hail followed by a thunderstorm that melts the ice. (Psalms, PSALM 147, n.d.)

The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus teaching about 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. (Matthew, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)

Mary Lee Brock comments that in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius invites us to imagine two standards:  one of good and the other evil.  The standard of Christ focuses on poverty, rejection and humility.  The standard of Satan is characterized by riches, honor and pride.   While there is not one perfect truth about the best way to live a life oriented to the standard of Christ, there are opportunities all day, every day to do so.

The two standards help me look at my sinfulness in an honest way.  I ask God to show me the times in my life when my ego and pride are motivating my choices, and I pray for the strength to reject the prideful stance and truly be of service to others.  I thank God for the moments in my life when I have experienced deep humility.  I look for ways to be reminded that I have all that I need to serve God, and I ask for help to push away any worries I may have about material possessions.

This Lent I am grateful to know the truth of my sinfulness and the desire for the Standard of Christ to guide my life (Brock, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “Making daily progress towards God,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from the commandments, something from examples, and something from Sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for our studies." (excerpt from Sermon 16A,1) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19 comments that through his death and resurrection, Jesus has fulfilled not only the Law of Moses but the deepest longings in our hearts. Now we can be in an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. Now we can receive all the grace we need to live in a way that is pleasing to God. Now we have the Holy Spirit, who convicts us, teaches us, and guides us. And now we have brothers and sisters in Christ who can support us in our walk with the Lord.

Jesus declared what he came to do: to fulfill and accomplish all that was in the Law and the prophets. Then, on the cross, he proclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He has done exactly what he promised to do!

“I praise you, Jesus, for fulfilling your Father’s intentions for me.” (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, looks at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, describing how the structure of the sermon can help us to understand what Jesus wanted to tell his disciples.

Commentators differ on what Jesus’s work of ‘fulfilment,’ or bringing to completion, amounted to, mainly on whether he did this in his teaching or in his life. In fact, it appears to have been in both. The mission of Jesus shows a basic continuity and fulfilment of the history of Israel, such that the death and resurrection of Jesus bring to completion the history and divine destiny of God’s people and fulfil the prophecies foretelling the coming Messiah. Not only does Matthew’s account of the passion and death of Jesus claim prophetic warrant from the Old Testament (‘the Son of Man goes as it is written of him’ [26:24; cf Mk 9:12]); in addition, in the following main section of the sermon he has Jesus pick out salient points of the Law, Old Testament moral teaching and religious practices, and give them a fuller, authoritative interpretation and commentary of his own.

As we have already observed, 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. (Mahoney, 2011)

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the exhortation of Moses to the Israelites to follow the laws and decrees of God rather than choosing the wrong path away from God’s favour. Demographics is important in the contrast between the understanding of following the Law in Matthew, likely edited by a converted Pharisee, which is almost opposite from the sense of following the Law expressed by Paul to the Gentiles. Friar Jude notes the acceptance of Paul’s message by the gentile Christians of the second century.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces CAC friend Mirabai Starr’s translation of a heartfelt prayer from Teresa of Ávila. We witness her concern for the whole world, her desire to speak truth to power, and her willingness to risk everything in order to be of service.

O my God! Please help world leaders understand the magnitude of their responsibilities….  

I sincerely pray for our leaders, and I would like to be of some help to them. Such an urge makes a soul reckless. I would gladly risk my life to gain what I believe in….  

Once a soul has attained this level of prayer, she does not merely desire to serve God; his Majesty [a name Teresa uses for God] gives her the strength to manifest the desire. The soul would not hesitate to try anything that might be of service to him. Any sacrifice for his sake feels like nothing, because she knows that anything other than pleasing him means nothing….  

Here is my life. Here is my honor. Here is my will. I give them all to you. I am yours. Use me as you will…. 

The soul is his soul. He is in charge. He illuminates her. It seems that he is guarding her against offending him. He helps her to wake up in service of him….  

As long as she receives God’s favors with humility and gratitude, always bearing in mind that the Beloved gives them and that she herself does almost nothing, she will retain her equanimity. (Rohr, 2023) 

We have the Holy Spirit as our guide to the implementation of Jesus' Way in the encounters we have with people on our journey.

References

Brock, M. L. (2023, March 15). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/031523.html 

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 4. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/4?1 

Mahoney, J. (2011, July 13). The Shape of the Sermon on the Mount. Thinking Faith. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110713_1.htm 

Matthew, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5?17 

Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/03/15/631611/ 

Psalms, PSALM 147. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/147?12 

Rohr, R. (2023, March 15). A Heartfelt and Humble Prayer — Center for Action and Contemplation. Richard Rohr. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-heartfelt-and-humble-prayer-2023-03-15/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Whoever Relaxes One of the Commandments. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=mar15 

The path to full life

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today point in a dualistic manner to the extreme choice of a path to life or death that we make by our actions.

The Two Ways

 

The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy presents the choice Moses puts before Israel, urging them to choose life.

 

As Moses’ third speech in the book of Deuteronomy winds down, our passage calls for a selection between two options: life and death. The Common English Bible translation stays close to the Hebrew wording: “life and what’s good versus death and what’s wrong.”1

Psalm 1 compares the two ways of life.

 * [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death.2

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus describes the conditions of discipleship that call us to take up our cross daily.

 * [9:23] Daily: this is a Lucan addition to a saying of Jesus, removing the saying from a context that envisioned the imminent suffering and death of the disciple of Jesus (as does the saying in Mk 8:34–35) to one that focuses on the demands of daily Christian existence.3

Tamora Whitney comments there are choices we have to deal with all the time. Every day we choose. We can choose to follow God, or we can choose to turn away from God. And the ramifications of those choices are life and death.

 

Last month for my reflection, and last week at Mass, the Psalm response was “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Every day we choose to hear God, or not. His voice is always there. It’s our choice to hear the voice. It’s our choice to listen for it. It’s our choice to respond, and how we respond. Will we harden our hearts, or will we follow God?4

Roger Dawson SJ, Chaplain to Wimbledon College, discusses a fundamental choice between the way of Lucifer and the way of Christ that Saint Ignatius Loyola included In the Spiritual Exercises as the Meditation on the Two Standards. It offers us a means of imagining these two ways of life competing for our commitment.

 

In contrast to Lucifer, Jesus does not trick or seduce us, but invites us and frees us. Even though it seems paradoxical, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We see this paradox throughout the Gospels: he calls us into poverty, to take up our cross every day and to renounce ourselves. He tells us that if you really want life you are going to have to lose your life and if you want genuine richness you have to be poor. It may be challenging, but once we make that step, then we begin to share in the richness of God and to see that all we have in this world is given to us by God. When we appreciate these gifts as gifts, rather than something to which we are entitled, we can learn a genuine sense of gratitude, wonder and awe for these gifts, and we can begin to realise that the only possession we ever need is God. In this relationship I see myself as I really am and more importantly know that I am loved for who I am, not because of status, title, job, money or possessions – none of these lasts and ultimately none of these matters. That is what the Meditation on the Two Standards is showing us.5

Don Schwager quotes “God calls us to conversion,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD.

 

"God calls us to correct ourselves and invites us to do penance. He calls us through the wonderful gifts of his creation, and he calls us by granting time for life. He calls us through the reader and through the preacher. He calls us with the innermost force of our thoughts. He calls us with the scourge of punishment, and he calls us with the mercy of his consolation." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 102, 16)6

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:22-25 comments that by asking us to “lose” our lives, Jesus is asking us not to hold on too tightly to our desires and plans so that we are free to embrace his desires and plans for us. Often, this means having to sacrifice something to serve God and his people, but look what we gain: his divine life flowing through us. And that is infinitely greater than anything we may have to give up.

 

Of course, it isn’t always easy to lose our lives in this way, especially when it comes to the day-to-day choices we face. For example, at the end of a long workday, Netflix may sound more appealing than reading our child a bedtime story. Or maybe we wish that we didn’t have to attend Mass one Sunday so that we could sleep in and have some extra free time. Or how about failing to listen to someone in distress because we are preoccupied with something that seems more important or attractive at the time? When you find yourself yet again trying to “save” your life by preferring your will over God’s will, reach out to Jesus. You could pray, “Lord, I have committed my life to you, and I give it to you now once again. I trust you to fill me with your own strength and grace so that I can do what you call me to do, not what I’d rather do.”7

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Moses is not allowing a response that involves sitting on the fence. Jesus as Son of Man connects to words from the Book of Daniel and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. Friar Jude reminds us of the Gospel irony that the more detached we are the more we find joy in giving of ourselves as we experience the grace of love and mercy.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that in cultures that have kept alive the knowledge that we are all one, woven in the same fabric of life people honor the reciprocity of the universe through ritual and tradition. Botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Robin Wall Kimmerer elaborates on this teaching.

 

The ceremonial giveaway is an echo of our oldest teachings. Generosity is simultaneously a moral and a material imperative, especially among people who live close to the land and know its waves of plenty and scarcity. Where the well-being of one is linked to the well-being of all. Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away. Hoarding the gift, we become constipated with wealth, bloated with possessions, too heavy to join the dance. . . .8

The path to full life brings us to experience the love and mercy of God that we may not know well as a consequence of choices that divide through selfishness and pride.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Commentary on Deuteronomy 30:15-20 - Working Preacher from .... Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1953
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1
3	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/es/node/4349?57=
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021821.html
5	(2011, September 2). 'Give them exactly what they want': The Meditation ... - Thinking Faith. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110902_1.htm
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=feb18
7	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/02/18/180909/
8	(2021, February 18). The Reciprocity of the Universe — Center for Action and .... Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://cac.org/the-reciprocity-of-the-universe-2021-02-18/