February 12, 2017

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time Sirach 15: 15-20; 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10; Matthew 5: 17-37 From earliest memories a constant theme of our ‘growing up’ was our responding in a positive way to the questions: ‘What do I have to do?…Clean your room…be nice to your brother/sister…be polite…play fair…respect your elders…do what your teachers say…in short—follow the rules.’ We learned the rules, we learned how to operate within the rules. Sometimes we learned that we could do the ‘minimum’ and still avoid trouble. But did we really learn or was it just a matter of doing enough to avoid ‘punishment’? Life hasn’t changed, the same questions were asked of Jesus by people who wanted to get more in touch with the ‘rules’ that God laid down, the Ten Commandments. They wanted to know: Do I have to follow all of these all of the time…are these rules for non-believers as well as believers…since I am in the special class, i.e.. The Chosen People, a Christian, a Catholic, are their special exceptions for me? Simply put: God created all out of love and requires all to love in return: love God and love each other all of the time. How are we doing? Today’s theme is the realization that in being loved and gifted, Each day God calls us to bring some love into our world and in continuing in doing this we get better so that we can prepare ourselves for the heaven of love. Sirach is part of what is known as Wisdom literature. It includes the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom and Sirach. The purpose of these texts are very practical: How are we to live, love and prosper in the challenges of life? How do we live as God wants us to live?. The author of Sirach had a great deal of admission for the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Today’s passage seems to be a reflection on Moses’ instructions to the Israelites just before they enter the Promised Land. The Lord had freed them from the slavery of Egypt, led them through their wanderings in the desert. Moses had spent time with God on Mt. Sinai and came down with the Ten Commandments. Now they were ready to experience God’s promise and Sirach reflects on Moses’ instructions. Foremost is the respect that the people must have for the commandments of God. This will lead them to salvation and life. God’s laws are not unfair, but will help the people in making right choices, not harmful ones. God is constantly helping them to be focused on the values and standards of heaven. Each person has the right to choose for themselves. That’s where we get in trouble. We can choose for ourselves, or choose God’s ways. We can choose to be selfish or helpful. We can choose to be kind and considerate or we can choose to look out just for me. The choice is ours. One way leads to harm, and even death the other to eternal life. Sirach’s final words seems to be inspired by Moses’ memorable instruction in Deuteronomy 30: 15-20: “Here, then I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin you today, loving Him, and walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding His voice, and holding fast to Him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore He would give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Paul is urging the Corinthians that the world is constantly alluring them to its transitory riches. If the world is tops in my life, then God is not. God is preparing all for the life of heaven, it is our choice. In Romans 8: 37-39 he describes life with God as, ”For I am convinced that neither death or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” We are to make the right choices: Do I follow God’s ways? Jesus is sharing in the Sermon on the Mount practical ways to live the Ten Commandments and His own triple commandments of Love. He presents five topics: law, anger, adultery, divorce, and oaths. The Pharisees kept on insisting on ‘what does the law say’. They urged total legalism: do what it says…period. Legalism can so easily degenerate into scrupulosity. We do this in Lent on day’s of Fast and Abstinence, ‘did my two earlier meals combined exceed my supper…did that tiny piece of beef in my vegetable soup break the lenten Friday abstinence? If I follow the law ‘to the letter’ then I feel very comfortable and feel I am ‘doing good’…but am I aware of those who are going hungry right around me? Am I conscious that I have the deeper obligation to expend my loving in endless charity? Jesus is constantly telling each of us that we have to move beyond the letter of the law through a deeper love of God and neighbor. Jesus certainly knows that if all had love in their hearts, there would be no need for laws against cruelty, assault and homicide. For Jesus a higher law amounts to a higher degree of love. In Matthew’s gospel, just before the section on the Passion and Resurrection, Jesus is concluding a series of parables on how to live the Gospel. The last ‘parable’ is the Judgment of the Nations. He depicts the Son of Man as a shepherd and the righteous and the wicked as sheep and goats respectively. Each person is judged on their deeds of mercy that have been done for the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters. It is a checklist for each follower: When I saw a person hungry, thirsty, naked, ill, or in prison did I respond or give an excuse or avoid them totally? Jesus responded: “ Amen, I say to you whatever you did for one of these least brothers or sisters of mind, you did for me… Amen I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Jesus challenges each person to a higher righteousness of love. So I reflect on: • Which teachings of Jesus in the Gospel do I find most challenging? Which are most affirming to me at this point in my life? • I am challenged by Jesus today to see where I say one thing and do another? Why am I ‘two-faced’ in this? • Jesus challenges me not only in how I respond to God but how do I view and respond to others? Where is my drawback here? • There is nothing automatic about being a true Christian. And it entails facing our inner motivations, desires, and priorities, and holding them up to Jesus’ new standard of honesty and love. How am I doing? Sacred Space 2017 shares: “Jesus is not careless about the requirements of the law. He wants us, too, to be attentive and careful and asks us to bring all aspects of our lives before God. I pray that I might respect the voice of my conscience as I try to hear how God is speaking to me. I am often told who are the winners and losers; I hear about the great, I am taught to ignore the small. Jesu