Fulfilling the Law

Gospel:  Matthew 5: 17-19

In today's Gospel portion Jesus speaks of fulfillment of the law, a fulfillment which comes in the giving of the Eight Beatitudes.  The challenge in any legal system lay in prioritization of which law was more important in a given situation.  The other challenge is found in determining to what extent and how far the law applies in a given case.  The endless debates and legalism left the practitioner confused and without a means of discerning what ultimately should be done.

The Beatitudes, however, give us both a means to prioritize what is most important in the law, and it gives us a way to discern the extent and scope of our moral duty.  The Beatitudes give priority to mercy, meekness, purity of heart, peacemaking, and striving for justice.  What is more, the Beatitudes do not merely deal with external actions, but they also encompass our internal dispositions and intentions in performing actions.   

Throughout the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will take certain precepts of the law and then apply the Beatitudes to them in order to provide us examples of how this prioritization and discernment takes place.  After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will embody the living out of the Beatitudes in his own life that provide us with the life of a person who embodies mercy, meekness, purity of heart, peacemaking, and striving for justice so that we might do so in our lives.

Seeing is Believing

Gospel: Matthew 5: 13-16

We regard salt as good for the different things it does.  Salt acts as a preservative so that food might be saved.  It also acts as seasoning to make foods taste better.  The same is true with respect to light.  Light is good because it enables us to see in the dark, that we might find things that are lost, find our way when lost, and offering us a sense of security and safety when the dark frightens us.  Salt and light do many good things for us human beings.  

In a similar way, we human beings must be salt and light.  We must do good things for others in the same way salt and light do.  We must be saving instruments as salt is to food.  We must illumine the light of others to help them when they are lost or afraid.  We must embody the Beatitudes by being merciful, meek, pure of heart, peacemakers, and striving for justice in the world.  To be good in the world is not so much about avoiding sin, but more so about doing positive good for others.  

Jesus says we are to let our light shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to God.  Perhaps the reason why so few people give glory to God is because they do not see good works in those claiming to be followers of Jesus.  If they see us not about the Beatitudes and the works of mercy, but instead about the striving for power, influence, and wealth, then the lack of faith is understandable.  Today is a day to be salt and light so that others may give glory to God. 

A New Commandment

Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12

For far too long we have attempted to live a Christian life based solely on the commandments to the neglect of the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount.  This omission is not accidental, but rather intentional.  For the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount challenge us to a way of life that seeks perfection and a greater holiness, while a mere adherence to the commandments enables us to define downwards the moral law to a minimalism that runs contrary to the Gospel.

Consider  how we celebrate the fact that we have not killed another person ever in our life, adhering to the letter of the fifth commandment.  But the Beatitudes go deeper: do we have murderous and hateful thoughts about our neighbor? Are we meek and merciful? No.  We canonize ourselves for not committing adultery with another person.  But our lustful thoughts about other people suggest we are not pure of heart and far from holiness and perfection.  

We love the legalism of the commandments and the many loopholes and exceptions we can create in order to exonerate ourselves for our killing, adulterating, lying, and the like.  We hear little of the Beatitudes because they convict us of our casuistry and minimalism and much more besides.  Today and the coming days to follow, let us challenge ourselves to live the Beatitudes, to apply them to our life as Jesus does throughout the Sermon on the Mount, and imitate the Lord Jesus in living the Beatitudes in our life.