Homily for 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Feb. 12, 2023
Matt 5: 17-37
Villa Maria, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors….  But I say to you…” (Matt 5 passim).

Sermon on the Mount by Rosselli

We continue listening to the Sermon on the Mount, that radical core of the Gospel.  For 3 Sundays now, and 1 more before Lent, Matthew and Holy Mother Church lay it before us.  We’re challenged to decide whether Jesus’ words feast our souls or make them uneasy.

Obviously, it’s no easy thing to live out the beatitudes, to be the light of the world, or to fulfill the commandments.  The disciples of Jesus find these things hard, including and consecrated religious.

When the Founding Fathers of our nation gathered in Philadelphia 236 years ago to amend the Articles of the Confederation, which was our 1st national constitution, they quickly realized that that project was more hopeless than getting teenagers to Sunday Mass.  They scrapped the Articles, started from scratch, and produced a new and marvelous instrument of government.

To it they prefixed a little introduction or preamble: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union [etc.], do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”

Was Jesus doing what the Founding Fathers did?  Yes and no.  He was not throwing out the old constitution and giving out a new one.  He was calling his listeners to a more perfect way of living out who they are, of living as children of God’s kingdom.

Really, Jesus cannot be any clearer that the law and the prophets still stand:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (5:17).  To fulfill the law and the prophets means, in part, to fulfill the messianic promises, a major theme in Matthew.  It also means to go beyond the letter of the law and the prophets to their heart, to live out what they intend, to fulfill their deepest meaning.

We all know that legal observance can be completely empty.  It can be a public relations show.  It can be social conformity.  It can be a way of showing oneself to be superior to others.  It can be an escape from an unwritten responsibility.  Legal observance alone is damnable:  “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20).

In essence, Jesus is saying that the law and the prophets must be written on our hearts, as Jeremiah prophesied (31:33).  Indirectly, Jesus turns the negative commands of the law into something positive as we sometimes do when trying to teach youngsters.

For example, “You shall not kill” means that we have to respect everyone’s life and health, as well as our own.  “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment….  First be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt 5:21-22,24).  Not only our external actions must be controlled, but our interior dispositions too, if we are to fulfill the law and the prophets, be disciples of Jesus, and enter the kingdom.  Reconciliation begins as an interior disposition, a desire for the well-being of our sister and brother.

Likewise, we all struggle to keep our heart free of lust and “unadulterated.”  On this point, we’ve been catechized according to the Gospel about serious sin.  Not many, tho, accept that we can sin in our thoughts—lustful desires or desires for revenge or envious thoughts.  Fortunately, we haven’t taken the part about our right eyes and right hands literally.  But the point is, our hearts and souls must belong to our spouses—husband, wife, Jesus Christ (spouse of the Church)—and not just our bodies, if we are to fulfill the law and the prophets, be disciples of Jesus, and enter the kingdom.  In the beatitudes Jesus blessed the clean of heart (5:8).  He also teaches that where our heart is, there is our treasure (6:21).  So we perfect the Law of Moses by giving ourselves wholeheartedly to God.

“But I say to you, Do not swear at all” (5:34).  When people speak of swearing, they may mean such expressions as “O my God,” which is a violation of the 2d commandment (“You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain”).  More often, they mean common vulgarity, using 4-letter words, which generally aren’t sinful, just bad manners (of which I’m guilty now and then).  But that’s not Jesus’ point.  “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’  Anything more is from the evil one” (5:37).  If our hearts are truthful, if we are men and women of integrity and honor, our words will be truthful, and we don’t need oaths or elaborate emphases.  If our hearts are evil, does an oath make any difference?  To be a seeker and a speaker of the truth is the way to fulfill the law and the prophets, be a disciple of Jesus, and enter the kingdom.

God’s Word judges our motives and not just our actions.  We give our hearts to God, or we give him nothing at all.