Homily for the Week of February 16, 2014

HOMILY: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2014

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sir 15:15-20 • 1 Cor 2:6-10 • Mt 5:17-37

         Parents and teachers know that before you can communicate effectively with children you have to get their attention. Jesus had his own way of getting His followers to pay close attention. He would say, “Amen, I say to you.” But Jesus never used it at the end of a prayer as we do. The word “amen” has no English equivalent. It is an Aramaic word that was said when someone recognized the deep truth of something.  Jesus uses Amen a few times in the Gospel which I just read.

         The readings for today set before us some basic principles for living out out daily lives as friends of Jesus. As much as God loves us and desires our good, God does not force us to accept the road leading to salvation. The choice is ours and is part of that wonderful gift of freedom which God has given us. But today I would like to reflect with you on right and wrong. Like it or not, in our Catholic faith there is black and there is white, but too often we insist that there must be some grey. The more secular the world becomes, the more we live in various shades of gray. This is a dangerous moral climate. The Gospel today calls us to remember that even though there is a color gray on the color chart, there is no such moral color. There is only white and only black.

         The rabbis of Jesus day were religion teachers.  They would distinguish between very serious commandments such as “Do not kill” and minor ones. We still make distinctions today. We excuse some sins thinking, “At least I didn’t kill anybody.” Many people make distinctions. Some lies are bad and some lies don’t matter because they are only “little white lies.”

         Our Gospel reading today stands in contrast to this practice. Jesus speaks of “jots” and “tittles.” The “jot” is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It looks like an apostrophe. A “tittle” is a flourish on a letter such as the top or bottom bar on a printed capital “I.” Jesus said He will not do away with the smallest letter of the law or the smallest part of a letter.  We are to be good and do right. There are no exceptions. This is hard: Transgressions, no matter how small, are never acceptable.

         A sin is always a choice. We make choices every day. Some choices are bad, and they bring with them bad consequences. We should never be shocked or taken by surprise when our bad behavior brings bad consequences. Jesus gives examples that stand even today. If we choose to be legalistic, we may think that we have never broken the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” but Jesus makes clear that He is not interested in legalism. He is interested in right and wrong. Our emotional, moral and social health begins with what is on our mind. So Jesus tells us that not only is murder wrong, but so is the mental attitude of hatred and unforgiveness that we  may choose to carry around with us. Even if we never act it out by killing someone, an attitude of hatred and revenge will affect not only the person who holds on to such feelings but also his or her relationships with others. The same is true with regard to sexuality, honesty and so on. I am not talking about those passing temptations that we have, where we may feel extremely angry toward someone or we feel a physical attraction toward someone. I am talking about  holding on to those feelings, nurturing them, wanting to keep them. Choosing to hold on to negative, destructive, sinful, or evil thoughts will only bring about immoral or bad results.

         Thoughts are like seeds in put in the ground.The kind of seeds in put in the ground will determine the kind of plant that will grow. The kind of thoughts we plant in our minds and imagination, or that we let others plant there, will affect our attitude, our mood and our behavior. Jesus is telling us we must have control over our thoughts. We have to make good choices as what we feed our mind and imagination.

         God gives us the opportunity to change our lives, to follow the road which leads to life. If you choose to keep the commandments, they will save us. We have been given by God the power to chose between good and evil, between life and death.

         God knows us so well that he knows and understands every one of our deeds and even our thoughts. Maybe fortunately, or unfortunately, God never commands us to act justly. However, God never gives us permission to do wrong.  We need the wisdom described by Paul in our second reading. Paul reflects God's thinking. Paul prays that we will be given discernment so that we might have God's law in our heart.

         The teaching of Jesus is truly challenging. Its focus is the heart, the place of human feelings, desires and hope. Jesus wishes to bring the human heart alive with the warmth of his love. When our efforts to become better people focus simply on behavior, they are misdirected and will be frustrated. Following the teaching of Jesus, we focus on the heart: on our feelings, desires and hopes. This is where Jesus is at work within us, and where the Spirit renews us. And what is changed on the inside will show itself on the outside.

         In about three weeks we will begin Lent.  Lent is a time for us to return to the Lord those parts of our life which we have taken over for ourselves, or to listen to the voice of God inscribed in our hearts. We have an opportunity to examine our choices. We are either choosing to follow God, or we are not. We are either under society’s influence to rationalize, or we have chosen Jesus Christ and His vision that there is right and there is wrong. It is the most important choice we will ever make.