Matthew 5:17 - 37
Have you ever had an “aha” moment? Most of us have had a few. An aha moment is when something you did not understand suddenly becomes clear. They aren’t too common, if my experience is normal. I remember one such moment in one of my college philosophy courses. My professor kept talking about matter and form and of course I understood the world in terms of atoms and molecules. I was a scientist, after all. But suddenly it became clear to me what he was talking about, and since then philosophy isn’t that hard to understand. I’ve seen a couple of my kids through those moments as well. I seem to recall them happening with algebra homework, or in one case, trigonometry. That’s what is going on today in our gospel -- Jesus is encouraging us to have “aha” moments.
The people of Jesus’ time had a bunch of laws. They were good laws -- Moses in his last speech talked about the laws of the Jewish people and how all other countries would envy them for their laws. The laws of course started with the ten commandments and then numerous other laws detailing what to do in different situations. The Jewish people of Jesus’ time and ours really wanted to live their lives pleasing God. A rabbi is not the same thing as a priest or minister. Rabbis primarily are people who you go to when you want to make sure something you are about to do is compatible with God’s law. The Pharisees were experts at that and in Jesus' time there were something like 630 laws that had been derived from studying the first five books of the bible -- called Torah, which means Law, in Hebrew.
Jesus, remember, is the fulfillment of Israel’s history. He is the Son of God who becomes human, and carries out the Father’s will perfectly. Because he does that, the Father accepts as sons and daughters those of us who become his disciples, who try to apply his teaching, who accept his mercy, who eat his body and blood. So Jesus is showing us how to live the law. He is fulfilling the law, telling us how to carry it out perfectly.
It makes sense that you shall not kill. It would be hard to live in a society where killing was condoned as a way to settle grievances, or get something you wanted. And if you want to control a society, you restrict the ability of citizens to kill. But Jesus is pointing us to a deeper understanding of this law. It’s not there to keep people from killing each other, primarily; rather it’s there to point us in the direction of being the way we were meant to be -- human beings in Christ’s mold. If we are angry, or distance ourselves from each other by looking down on them, we are going in the opposite direction. That’s why reconciliation with my brother or sister is more important than paying my respects to God. If I’m not reconciled with my neighbor, I’m going in the opposite direction, away from putting on Christ, as Saint Paul puts it.
The same is true regarding adultery. The purpose of marriage is that a man and a woman become “one flesh” -- and that doesn’t just apply to our romantic lives. Before original sin came along, and people were the way God meant them to be, Adam and Eve were in no way objects to the other. John Paul II spends a lot of time talking about the big change that took place with original sin. Before the sin, it says about our first parents, “They were naked but not ashamed”. They did not see each other as objects to be possessed, or as means to satisfy an appetite. And after the fall, God asks Adam why he was hiding, and he replies, “I hid from you because I was naked.” Adam in his nakedness is now ashamed, ashamed of his sin, ashamed that God sees right through him as it were. Now being naked always carries the risk of shame, of being an object to someone. And of course looking at anyone, even your husband or wife, with lust breaks down that spousal relationship you are supposed to have.
You can see how this sort of thinking applies to divorce as well. Adultery is first of all dishonoring what marriage is supposed to be all about -- perfecting that relationship God intended.
In Jesus’ time people would make promises and to show how sincere they were, would back up their promises with an oath -- “If I don’t do what I promised, may God make me blind”, something like that. You may remember Jephtha, one of the judges of Israel, who swore that if he was given victory over his enemies, he would offer in sacrifice the first person who came out to greet him when he returned. It turned out to be his daughter, and he did.
Jesus is saying that we should live so that everyone will know that whatever we say is the truth. My word should be as good as the strongest oath. That’s the way things were supposed to be; that’s the way Jesus lived.
So today let us look for those ‘aha’ moments -- the Holy Spirit is always there to show us not only what is right and wrong, but to lead us to become more like Christ, the perfect human being who invites us to be perfect as well.
