(Mt 5:20-26)

«I tell you in fact that unless your righteousness will abound more [that] of the scribes and pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven»

In the churches of Galilee and Syria there were different and conflicting opinions about the Law of Moses: for some an absolute to be fulfilled even in detail, for others now a meaningless frill (v.22).

The disputants went so far as to insult, to ridicule the opposing party.

But as the Tao Tê Ching (xxx) says: «Where the militias are stationed, thorns and brambles are born». Master Wang Pi comments: «He who promotes himself causes unrest, because he strives to affirm his merits».

Mt helps all community sisters and brothers to understand the content of the ancient Scriptures and grasp the attitude of ‘continuity and cut’ given by the Lord: «You have heard that [...] Now I say to you» (vv.21-22).

‘Arrow’ of the ancient codes was shot in the right direction, but only understanding its range in the spirit of concordance sustains trajectory to the point of providing the energy needed to hit the “target”.

Ideal of ancient religiosity was to present oneself pure before God, and in this sense the Scribes official theologians of the Sanhedrin emphasised the value of the rules that they believed were nestled in the First Testament ‘prison of the letter’.

Sadducees - the priestly class - focused on the sacrificial observances of the Torah alone.

Pharisees, leaders of popular religiosity, emphasised the respect for all traditional customs.

Teaching of professionals of the sacred produced in the people a sense of legalistic oppression that obscured the spirit of the Word of God and of Tradition itself.

Jesus brings out the goal: the greater Justice of Love.

The splendor, beauty and richness of the Glory of the living God is not produced in observing, but in the ability to manifest Him Present.

The right position before Father becomes - in Jesus' proposal - the right position before one's own history and that of one’s neighbor.

First «debt» is therefore a ‘global understanding’: here the Eternal is revealed.

Justice is not the product of the accumulation of righteous deeds, in view of merit: this would manifest narrowness, detachment and arrogance (a type of man of unquestioning thought).

The new Justice chases complicity with evil up to the secret roots of the heart and ideas. But not to accentuate the sense of guilt, nor to make us pursues external dreams.

Observance that does not abide in friendship, in tolerance even of oneself, in Christ who orients, would arise from an ambiguous relationship with the norm and doctrines.

We can overlook the childish need for approval.

The Life of God transpires in a world not of sterilised or pure and phlegmatic one-sided people, but in a conviviality of differences that resembles Him.

To internalize and live the message:

Where do you find the emotional nourishment you need?

What do you think of exclusive groups and their idea of ​​the ultimate court?

Discord even with creation

If man is not reconciled with God, he is also in discord with creation. He is not reconciled with himself, he would like to be something other than what he is and is therefore not reconciled with his neighbour either. Also part of reconciliation is the ability to acknowledge guilt and ask for forgiveness - from God and from each other. And finally, part of the process of reconciliation is the readiness to do penance, the readiness to suffer to the end for a fault and allow oneself to be transformed. And part of it is that gratuitousness of which the Encyclical 'Caritas in veritate' speaks repeatedly: the readiness to go beyond what is necessary, to go beyond reckoning, but to go beyond what mere legal conditions require. This includes that generosity of which God himself has given us an example. Let us think of Jesus' words: 'If you present your offering at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift' (Mt 5:23f.). God, who knew that we are not reconciled, who saw that we have something against Him, rose up and came to meet us, even though He alone was on the side of reason. He came to meet us up to the cross, to reconcile us. This is gratuitousness: the readiness to take the first step. To first go out to meet the other, to offer him reconciliation, to take on the suffering that entails giving up one's own right. Do not give in to the desire for reconciliation: God has given us an example of this, and this is the way to become like Him, an attitude we need again and again in the world. We must today relearn the ability to recognise guilt, we must shake off the illusion that we are innocent. We must learn the capacity to do penance, to let ourselves be transformed; to go out to meet the other and to let God give us the courage and the strength for such a renewal.

[Pope Benedict, Address to the Roman Curia 21 December 2009].

Jesus' attitude with respect to the Jewish Law: deep motivation, hidden wisdom. Precept - demand of love

The Gospel [...] is still part of the so-called 'Sermon on the Mount', the first great preaching of Jesus. Today the theme is Jesus' attitude towards the Jewish Law. He states: 'Do not believe that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to fulfil' (Mt 5:17). Jesus therefore does not want to cancel the commandments that the Lord gave through Moses, but wants to bring them to their fullness. And immediately afterwards he adds that this "fulfilment" of the Law requires a higher justice, a more authentic observance. For he says to his disciples: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:20).

But what does this "full fulfilment" of the Law mean? And in what does this superior justice consist? Jesus himself answers us with some examples. Jesus was practical, he always spoke with examples to make himself understood. He starts from the fifth commandment of the Decalogue: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not kill'; ... But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment" (vv. 21-22). With this, Jesus reminds us that even words can kill! When you say of a person that he has a serpent's tongue, what do you mean? That his words kill! Therefore, not only must one not attempt the life of one's neighbour, but neither should one pour the poison of wrath upon him and strike him with slander. Not even gossip about him. We come to chatter: chatter, too, can kill, because it kills people's reputation! It is so bad to talk! At first it may seem like a pleasant, even amusing thing, like sucking a candy. But in the end, it fills our hearts with bitterness, and it also poisons us. I tell you the truth, I am convinced that if everyone made the resolution to avoid gossip, he would eventually become a saint! That's a good way! Do we want to become saints? Yes or no? [Piazza: Yes!] Do we want to live attached to chatter as a habit? Yes or no? [Piazza: No!] Then we agree: no chatter! Jesus proposes to those who follow him the perfection of love: a love whose only measure is to have no measure, to go beyond all calculation. Love of neighbour is such a fundamental attitude that Jesus goes so far as to say that our relationship with God cannot be sincere if we do not want to make peace with our neighbour. And he says: "If therefore you present your offering at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother" (vv. 23-24). Therefore we are called to be reconciled with our brothers before we manifest our devotion to the Lord in prayer.

It is clear from all this that Jesus does not simply attach importance to disciplinary observance and outward conduct. He goes to the root of the Law, focusing above all on the intention and therefore on the human heart, from where our good or evil actions originate. Good and honest behaviour requires not just legal rules, but deep motivations, the expression of a hidden wisdom, the Wisdom of God, which can be received through the Holy Spirit. And we, through faith in Christ, can open ourselves to the action of the Spirit, who enables us to experience divine love.

In the light of this teaching, each precept reveals its full meaning as a requirement of love, and all are reunited in the greatest commandment: love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 16 February 2014]