(Mt 5:17-37)

 

Law and Spirit

 

To break down or to fulfil: Law and Spirit

(Mt 5:17-19)

 

Faced with the precepts of the Law, different attitudes emerge. On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established, and on the other, there are those who omit or disregard the rules.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, he was attentive to the deeper meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'break' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided allowing himself to be minimised in the casuistry of morality that fragmented fundamental choices - and made them all superficial, without a fulcrum.

Legalistic rigidity tended to equate the codes... with God. But for the believer, his 'obligation' is both event, Word and Person: global discipleship.

 

In the early communities, some believers believed that the rules of the First Testament should no longer be considered, as we are saved by Faith and not by works of the Law.

Others accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but could not bear the excess of freedom with which some brothers in the church lived his Presence. 

Still tied to an ideal ethnic background, they believed that ancient observance was obligatory.

There was no shortage of believers carried away by an excess of fantasies in the Spirit. Some, in fact, rejected the Hebrew Scriptures and considered themselves detached from history: they no longer looked at the story of Jesus.

 

Matthew seeks a balance between emancipation and closure.

He writes his Gospel to support converts to the Faith in Christ in the communities of Galilee and Syria, accused by their Judaizing brothers of being unfaithful to the Torah.

The evangelist makes it clear that Jesus himself had been accused of serious transgressions of the Law of Moses.

The trajectory of the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a consistent and totally clear starting point, nor does it have the strength in itself to reach its target.

The arrow of the Torah has been shot in the right direction, but only in the Spirit of the Beatitudes can a living assembly gain momentum to reach Communion.

 

The Gospel passage is concerned with emphasising that the ancient Scriptures, the historical story of Jesus, and life in the Spirit must be evaluated as inseparable aspects of a single plan of salvation.

Lived in synergy, they lead to the conviviality of differences.

The God of the patriarchs makes himself present in the loving relationship of communities, through faith in Christ, who expands his own life in their hearts.

The Living One transmits the Spirit that spurs all creativity, overcomes closed-mindedness, opens up, and invites.

[In us, Jesus of Nazareth becomes a living Body - and the joy of doing so manifests Him (starting from the soul) in Person and in full Faithfulness].

Reaching out to our brothers and sisters and going to God thus becomes easy, spontaneous, rich and very personal for everyone: the Strength comes from within.

 

New words or ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth, are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total fascination of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full objective of the Law - becoming 'forever'.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

Has the law on stone remained rigid within you, or do you feel an impulse towards a new Covenant?

Do you sense within yourself an actualised and irresistible desire for good, which rediscovers everything in the Scriptures and energises the Word in the various tastes of doing?

 

 

 

Demolish or Fulfil

 

    Faced with the precepts of the Law, distant attitudes manifest themselves.

On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established; on the other, there are those who omit or despise the rules.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, He was attentive to the spirit and deeper meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'destroy' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided even more being minimised in the casuistry of morality.

This ethical obsession - still alive in the early brotherhoods - fragmented and eroded the meaning of fundamental choices, rendering them all superficial and without focus.

In this way, a legalistic sclerotisation was produced, which easily tended to equate the codes... with God.

But for the believer, his 'obligation' is both event, spirit of the Word, and Person: global following in those same incomparable appointments.

 

The faithful of the communities of Galilee and Syria were criticised by the old-fashioned Jews.

These observant Jews accused their co-religionists who had converted to the new personal, creative Faith of being transgressors and contrary to the depth of the common Tradition.

Thus, some emphasised salvation through faith alone in Christ and not through works of the law. Others did not accept the Freedom that was growing precisely in those who were beginning to believe in Jesus the Messiah.

New, more radical currents already wanted to disregard his history and his Person, to get rid of him and take refuge in a generic 'avant-garde' or 'freedom of spirit' - without backbone, vicissitudes or conjunctions.

 

Matthew helps us to understand the conflict: the direction of the arrow shot from the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a clear and consistent starting point, nor the strength to reach its target.

The evangelist harmonises the tensions, emphasising that authentic observance is not formal fidelity [obedience to the 'letter'].

The spirit of fundamental fulfilment does not allow us to put the whole Christ and his trials and tribulations in brackets, perhaps remaining neutral or indifferent dreamers.

Without reductions in the power of election, nor 'breaking down' (v. 17) ancient and identified or particular ways of being, He is present in the facets of the most diverse currents of thought.

New words, ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total charm of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full goal of the Law - becoming forever.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

How do you evaluate the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Prophets?

How do you deal with situations in harmony with the Voice of the Lord and in his Spirit?

 

 

 

First debt: greater Justice

(Mt 5:20-26)

 

    "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

 

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

The contenders resorted to insults to ridicule the opposing side.

 

But as the Tao Tê Ching (xxx) says: "Where armies dwell, thorns and brambles grow." Master Wang Pi comments: "He who promotes himself causes disorder, because he strives to assert his merits."

 

Matthew helps all the brothers of the community to understand the content of the ancient Scriptures and to understand the attitude of 'continuity and cutting' given to them by the Lord: "You have heard that [...] Now I say to you" (vv. 21-22).

The 'arrow' of the ancient codes has been shot in the right direction, but only understanding its significance in the spirit of harmony sustains its journey until it provides the energy necessary to hit the 'target'.

 

The ideal of ancient religiosity was to present oneself pure before God, and in this sense the official theologian scribes of the Sanhedrin emphasised the value of the rules they believed were hidden in the 'prison of the letter' of the First Testament.

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

The Pharisees, leaders of popular religiosity, emphasised respect for every traditional custom.

 

The teaching of the 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 objective: the greater Justice of Love.

The splendour, beauty and richness of the Glory of the living God is not produced by observing, but by the ability to manifest it as Present.

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

The first 'debt' is therefore a 'global understanding': here the Eternal One is revealed.

Justice is not the product of accumulating righteous deeds for the sake of merit: this would manifest pettiness, detachment and arrogance (a type of man with unquestionable thinking).

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

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

 

We can neglect the childish need for approval.

The Life of God transpires in a world not of pure and phlegmatic, sterilised or unilateral people, but in a conviviality of differences that resembles him.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Where do you find the emotional nourishment you need?

What do you think of exclusive groups and their idea of a decisive court?

 

 

The Revelation of equal Dignity

(Mt 5:27-32)

 

In Semitic marriage law, women were considered the property of their husbands: they were not considered legal persons, but rather possessions of men, who could act as masters.

Even in the First Testament, the sin of adultery was considered a serious violation of the male's right of ownership, as well as a possible impurity of blood [the mixing of which was abhorrent].

This may seem strange to our mentality, but it carried more weight than the moral transgression itself.

Jesus, on the other hand, reveals the value of the person as such.

He brings to the fore the meaning of approaches and violations that harm and offend the existence of the weak.

He even introduces the proclamation of equal dignity between men and women.

Marriage is a community of love, not a union that can be dissolved on a whim or for material gain.

This situation will end up censuring the defenceless person - who will then [abandoned] be condemned to suffer further violations of themselves in order to survive (v. 32).

With sharp words, the Lord recalls the need for harsh intransigence towards any pedestrian deviation of selfishness, which humiliates the innocent who are without protection.

To save love and give it vigour, the Master also proposes painful amputations. Making the most serious sacrifices can free the 'strong' from their delusions.

An attraction without self-giving does not express the person to the person; it is the unripe fruit of wandering immaturity and leads to alienation.

Women – that is, the weak and innocent, who love more and more seriously – are not creatures to be mocked, nor can they be reduced to possessions, things, consumer goods, useful only to the master of the house.

Albertine Tshibilondi Ngoyi writes:

'African women are neither a reflection of men nor slaves. They feel no need to imitate men in order to express their personality. They exude an original civilisation through their work, their personal genius, their concerns, their language and their customs. They have not allowed themselves to be colonised by men and the prestige of male civilisation'.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you have a gaze that opens the door to betrayal? Don't you think that it manifests a frivolous attitude and a poor choice of lifestyle?

Don't you believe that a broken heart is a sign of a deeper unease and dissatisfaction that goes beyond moral infidelity?

Do you reflect on how to invest the energies that run through your calling and mission?

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you have a gaze that opens the door to betrayal? Don't you think that it manifests a light-hearted approach and poor life choices?

Do you not believe that a broken heart is a sign of a deeper unease and dissatisfaction that goes beyond moral infidelity? Do you reflect on how you invest the energy that drives your calling and mission?

 

 

 

The perfection of the Free, the deficiency of stools

 

Clear and distinct

(Mt 5:33-37)

 

'Yes when it is yes, no when it is no'. There is no need to reinforce trust.

 

Every oath - even a sacred one - is a loophole that does not heal a reality that is already dead.

The theatre of bombastic formulas only admits the conviction that the Other cannot be fully trusted.

Total transparency in relationships does not need stools for support. 

It is ridiculous to try to encourage reciprocity by inventing the crutch of the oath, which reinforces a person's word with something greater than themselves [capable of punishing them in the event of non-compliance; then whatever will be, will be].

Good relationships, the ideal of justice, credit, and our whole life, come to perfection in a clear way.

There is no need to beat about the bush, to become artificial, to rely on other precautions that then take back one's word, even if they are well prepared and perfectly staged.

 

Let us come to the theological point: what matters to the Father is the Person, not his symbolic expressions or his 'merits' - fake props in a face-to-face encounter, to be displayed in the window to divert him.

The face-to-face encounter is worth the whole game: much more than what sounds good to the ear, far beyond the accounting of what women and men have accomplished.

Our strong loyalty before God is not there; on the contrary, we need it. It is useless to hide the dust under a carpet of high-sounding mottos and rants.

Even a pile of 'perfectly' fulfilled works of the law provides no support.

In fact, the scaffolding may seem sublime and phenomenal, but it is superficial (often unfortunately insincere: castles made of paper and papier-mâché) and has a dual purpose.

 

The Father is impressed by his creative masterpiece, by the sincere heart of women and men; not by the smoke and mirrors of impersonal displays set up for the occasion.

Nor is he flattered by ritual expressions, acronyms, clichés, or even heroic deeds that risk damaging the foundations of personality and the Call by Name.

 

There is nothing higher than our 'face'; the rest is cunning and falsehood.  Dangerous tricks.

The puritanical laity used to say, 'The greater the forms, the less the truth'. Not: give credence.

Actions, behaviours, clear words. This is what counts. 

In short, we must not 'improve' ourselves according to external models and facsimiles - nor organise more events - except with His Free Gift, which is much more reliable, permanent and effective than our [conforming and sometimes vain] observances.

The power we have cannot even affect the natural colour of a hair; this is the reality - behind the grand scenes we set up so as not to admit that... something is wrong.

The integrity that matters is calm, transparent, spontaneous, frank: it cannot be ours. It is useless to make and remake 'oaths' to deceive even God.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Did you find yourself a merchant at the last fair? Have you ever expressed yourself like a forger?