First Reading Commentary
The Latin Vulgate’s
version of this Reading tells us that “God made man from the beginning and left
him in the hand of his own counsel.”
There’s an eerie tone in that translation which intimates how
responsible we must be as individuals when exercising God’s gift of free will. The Latin Vulgate also reveals that the
keeping of God’s Commandments is to “perform acceptable fidelity forever.”
We have been made
executors of a great treasure – our own salvation. No other creature or any other form of
creation on earth has been given such a gargantuan responsibility. We do, however, possess something that is
perhaps an underestimated aid – the grace of God. Saint Augustine explains: “If we examine the
context, it shows that man, in his present state, is declared inexcusable if he
yields to sin, as he still has free will, which may avoid it, with the grace of
God, which is always ready to support us.”
It
has often been said that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI proposed – not imposed. We see in this Reading a proposal – not an
imposition. The Holy Father, however, as
Christ’s Vicar on earth, proposed to us what is best for our relationship with
God. Through Sirach, God Himself in this
Reading proposes what is most advantageous for our soul, regardless of how
mysterious or incomprehensible it is.
The Law of God has been written on stone tablets and on the tablets of
human hearts: man has the free choice of whether or not to comply with it.
Second Reading Commentary
Saint
John Chrysostom explains what Saint Paul means by ‘wisdom’: “By wisdom, here
seems to be understood a more sublime doctrine concerning the most abstruse
mysteries of faith, which the ignorant could not understand.” It was the Incarnation of the Son of God
which revealed this mysterious wisdom, but a wisdom, nevertheless, that
continues to remain hidden in many, even among those who are considered wise by
human standards. This is why we year
after year observe the Lord of glory continuing to be questioned and verbally
crucified in various publications and documentaries, especially around the Lent
and Easter season.
The Spirit of God is a Spirit of grace, knowledge and prophecy – a Spirit
which God gives to His faithful, and most particularly to His apostles. This Spirit of God raises one to a higher
knowledge of divine mysteries. Among the
faithful of God, even if unable to recognize this mysterious knowledge of God
within themselves, certainly have witnessed it in our modern day heroes like
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Venerable Solanus Casey,
and Saint John Paul II.
Many of
the external practices or rituals of the old Law no longer come into play in
Christianity, but Jesus is not talking about that. Our Lord is referring to the moral precepts,
the spirit of the old Law which not only needs to be adhered to, but practiced
with greater perfection: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Jesus is
the Reality of all the figures of the Old Testament. He is the Perfection of all the imperfections
of old, and calls us to this Perfection, which is Himself. The old Law was extremely protected by its
doctors and our Lord’s raising of it to an elevated morality was, to say the
least, radical and scandalous. But as
Jesus tells us, this is not an abolishment, but a fulfillment. One might say that Jesus accomplishes the
will of the Law. Saint John Chrysostom
writes: “He [Jesus] fulfilled the Law by reducing all the precepts of the old
Law to a more strict and powerful morality.”
Our Savior often spoke the words: “Amen, I say to you. . .” That “Amen” is an assurance, a guarantee that
what He is about to say is absolute truth.
Saint
Augustine taught something that is somewhat taboo today basically because no
one wants to consider such a possibility: he taught that what Jesus meant by
“least in the Kingdom of heaven” is to not be in heaven at all. And thus, this is why Jesus said very
clearly, “unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not
enter the Kingdom of heaven.” In other
words, if it is only the letter of the Law that is adhered to and not the
spirit of the Law, then the only thing being satisfied or fulfilled is one’s
own vanity.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
teaches us: “See how necessary it is, not only to believe, but to keep all the
Commandments, even the very least. Our
Savior makes this solemn declaration at the opening of His mission, to show to
what a height of perfection He calls us.”
The word “Raqa” is a
word of contempt. It was used in ancient
Israel. Its root meaning is “to
spit”. Jesus uses the setting of a legal
court and that setting is something that would have been very familiar to the
hearers of His words in first-century Palestine. There were three kinds of tribunals: the
first had three judges to try smaller cases, like theft, for example. The second kind of tribunal consisted of
twenty-three judges who listened to criminal cases. These twenty-three judges had the power to
condemn to death. This was known as the
“Little Sanhedrin”. The final type of
tribunal was known as the “Great Sanhedrin” which consisted of seventy-two
judges who decided on cases involving religion, the king, the high priest, and
affairs of the state.
While the words, “you
fool” are insulting in our modern culture, at the time of Jesus they were
considered very contemptuous, spiteful, malicious, and provoking words.
Gehenna was in the
valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem. Worshippers
of an idol named Moloch would go to Gehenna to sacrifice their own children by
burning them. It is now symbolic of
hell. Jesus does teach us in His
examples that there are distinctions of sin – mortal and venial. According to Saints Cyprian and Ambrose as
well as Origen, an early Church writer, on a spiritual realm, what Jesus means
by “prison” is purgatory. And then, of
course, Gehenna is hell, the place of eternal separation from God.
Jesus is not
suggesting that all oaths are forbidden. Certainly asking God to witness matters in our
legal system, for example, are necessary.
Most likely what our Lord is referring to is the swearing to God in
casual conversations. God’s Name is
sacred and should only be spoken with great reverence and respect.
We have been called
to a perfection that seems impossible by human standards – and without God, it
is. But if we are to understand and
adhere to the spirit of the Law, then we have to recognize that a key and
essential ingredient in the spirit of the Law is mercy. Not only are we called to be merciful, but to
trust in God’s love and mercy for us.
This ingredient is so important, that our Redeemer made it a sacrament –
and the sacraments can raise us to the heights of perfection.
