Mar 6, 2025 Written by 

First debt: a greater Justice

(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 brothers and sisters 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).

The ‘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”.

The 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 ‘prison of the lettering’ 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 the respect for all traditional customs.

 

The 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.

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

First «debt» is therefore the 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 one-sided pure and phlegmatic, 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?

 

 

 [Friday 1st wk. in Lent, March 14, 2025]

691 Last modified on Friday, 14 March 2025 12:02
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

We see that the disciples are still closed in their thinking […] How does Jesus answer? He answers by broadening their horizons […] and he confers upon them the task of bearing witness to him all over the world, transcending the cultural and religious confines within which they were accustomed to think and live (Pope Benedict)
Vediamo che i discepoli sono ancora chiusi nella loro visione […] E come risponde Gesù? Risponde aprendo i loro orizzonti […] e conferisce loro l’incarico di testimoniarlo in tutto il mondo oltrepassando i confini culturali e religiosi entro cui erano abituati a pensare e a vivere (Papa Benedetto)
The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life (Pope Benedict)
I Padri […] dicono così: per il pesce, creato per l’acqua, è mortale essere tirato fuori dal mare. Esso viene sottratto al suo elemento vitale per servire di nutrimento all’uomo. Ma nella missione del pescatore di uomini avviene il contrario. Noi uomini viviamo alienati, nelle acque salate della sofferenza e della morte; in un mare di oscurità senza luce. La rete del Vangelo ci tira fuori dalle acque della morte e ci porta nello splendore della luce di Dio, nella vera vita (Papa Benedetto)
We may ask ourselves: who is a witness? A witness is a person who has seen, who recalls and tells. See, recall and tell: these are three verbs which describe the identity and mission (Pope Francis, Regina Coeli April 19, 2015)
Possiamo domandarci: ma chi è il testimone? Il testimone è uno che ha visto, che ricorda e racconta. Vedere, ricordare e raccontare sono i tre verbi che ne descrivono l’identità e la missione (Papa Francesco, Regina Coeli 19 aprile 2015)
There is the path of those who, like those two on the outbound journey, allow themselves to be paralysed by life’s disappointments and proceed sadly; and there is the path of those who do not put themselves and their problems first, but rather Jesus who visits us, and the brothers who await his visit (Pope Francis)
C’è la via di chi, come quei due all’andata, si lascia paralizzare dalle delusioni della vita e va avanti triste; e c’è la via di chi non mette al primo posto se stesso e i suoi problemi, ma Gesù che ci visita, e i fratelli che attendono la sua visita (Papa Francesco)
So that Christians may properly carry out this mandate entrusted to them, it is indispensable that they have a personal encounter with Christ, crucified and risen, and let the power of his love transform them. When this happens, sadness changes to joy and fear gives way to missionary enthusiasm (John Paul II)
Perché i cristiani possano compiere appieno questo mandato loro affidato, è indispensabile che incontrino personalmente il Crocifisso risorto, e si lascino trasformare dalla potenza del suo amore. Quando questo avviene, la tristezza si muta in gioia, il timore cede il passo all’ardore missionario (Giovanni Paolo II)
This is the message that Christians are called to spread to the very ends of the earth. The Christian faith, as we know, is not born from the acceptance of a doctrine but from an encounter with a Person (Pope Benedict))

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