CHRISTIAN LIFE IS LOVE AND NOT LAW
The spirituality of the Christian life is built on the principle of love and not the law as religion indicates. Hence, we are challenged today to obey the spirit and not just the letter of the law. This is why Jesus insists that we go deeper than our external deeds.
Thus, we affirm that the Christian faith and life is an internal spirituality that transforms us inside out with the decision we make and the action we take in living out the gospel demand. Sadly, today, the inferior life is a challenge to the culture of externalism that dominates every sphere of life: morals, ethics, religion, politics and many others.
OUR THEME
The principal theme of this Sunday is an invitation to live freely the Christian life and faith not complicated in observance of rules and regulations. An honest and spiritual life base on love for God, others and ourselves.
Jesus´ teachings did not only make a deep impression on the people but challenged them to an internal living and transformation of religious ethics and morals. The readings of this Sunday call us to a life of freedom and responsibility, the depths of God´s Wisdom and a new order of things in Christ Jesus.
FIRST READING: SIRACH 15:15-20.
The Book of Sirach 15:15-20 tells the infinite wisdom, power and authority of God respects our human freedom and will to choose, to say or to do evil. This exonerates God from all responsibility for evil in the world
To act well and faithfully is a matter of our own choice. This exonerates God from all responsibility for evil in the world.
Hence, the God of liberty always and everywhere respects our decisions, choices, actions and thoughts; and he never compels anyone to do what he or she never likes. Eccl. 15:16-21
SECOND READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 2:6-10
St. Paul´s letter 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 challenges the Corinthian believers to appreciate the wisdom of God’s saving plan for His people, a plan hidden for ages but now revealed by the Spirit.
We can know the power of the cross through the wisdom that comes from God and the help of the Holy Spirit who knows the depth of our hearts and intentions.
In all, St. Paul invites us to a profound living in the Spirit who understands and knows the depth and profundity of God.
THE GOSPEL: 1 CORINTHIANS 2:6-10
In the gospel of Matthew 5:17-37, The “rascality” of Christian life and living affirmed by Jesus shocked the very foundation of the Jewish religion built of the Law which means: The ten Commandments, The Pentateuch, The Five Rolls or The Law and the prophets to mean the whole of Scripture and the Oral or the Scribal Law. Where their religion was a legalism of petty rules and regulations.
THE LAW AND CHRIST’S INTENTION
We must obey the spirit, and not just the letter of the law, a passionate call from Christ to a profound interior life in the Christian faith.
Using freedom well. It is not our misdeeds which accuse us before God, but our hearts, fractured and divided as they are. Jesus insists that we go deeper than our external deeds.
The vital question is what is going on in our hearts, our thoughts and our motivations? The teaching is presented using various examples, presented sometimes with great simplicity, and other times with irony and wit.
THIS WAS NOT ONLY A PARADIGM SHIFT DOCTRINE BUT A DEEPLY PROFOUND TEACHING THAT RADICALIZED THE EXISTING ORDER AND STATUS QUO:
1. “Christ is the end of the Law” (Romans 10:4), there is no place for legality in God´s scheme or project for man. Christianity is not moralization, legalization or litigation of rules and regulations.
2. The Christian righteousness must and should exceed the mere observations of petty rules and regulations into becoming God-like, Christ-like and Love-like.
3. For Jesus, in God’s sight it was not only the man who committed murder who was guilty, the man who was angry with his brother, the man who was abusive, critical, judgemental, contemptuous and insulting to a brother or sister was also guilty and liable to judgment. Hence, there is a strong need for forgiveness and reconciliation if not, it becomes the greatest obstacle to spiritual growth and prayers.
4. It was not only the man who committed adultery who was guilty; the man who allowed the unclean desire to settle in his heart (through the internet, phone, social media, books, pictures, plays, even advertisements, etc.) was also guilty.
5. By Jesus’ teaching or standard, a man is not judged only by his deeds, but is judged even more by the desires or thoughts which never emerged in deeds Truly, for Jesus murder is forever wrong, but long-lasting anger is bad; contemptuous speaking is worse, and the careless or the malicious talk which destroys a man’s good name is worst of all.
6. For Jesus is quite clear we cannot be right with God until we are right with men; we cannot hope for forgiveness until we have confessed our sin, not only to God but also to men through reconciliation.
7. For Jesus making peace implies the most practical advice of getting trouble sorted out in time before it piles up into worse trouble for the future.
8. For Jesus, happiness in eternity means never leaving an unreconciled quarrel or an unhealed breach between yourself and your brother man unresolved.
9. For Jesus, the plugging of eyes or cutting of hand from the body is not a literal interpretation. What they mean is that anything which helps to seduce us to sin is to be ruthlessly rooted out of life.
10. For Jesus too, marriage or vows are sacred commitments are required faithfulness and not conformity to human desires.
11. For Jesus, a truly good man will never need to take an oath; the truth of his sayings and the reality of his promises need no such guarantee. The obligation of seeking transparency in life that eliminates all forms of falsehood and infidelity is what makes a Christian honest, integral and truthful.
CHRIST TEACHINGS
The Sermon on the Mount offers high moral ideals and not a set of firm commandments.
1. Jesus forbids not merely murder but also lesser forms of injuring others. Even the harbouring of negative emotions or thoughts against others.
2. The importance of forgiveness is so great that it comes before strictly religious duties. He tells us “leave your gift there before the altar and go; first, be reconciled to your neighbour.”
3. Sexual impurities are not only in acts but words, jokes, thoughts and even looks. Sins of any kind require of us a severe separation for God’s grace and mercy to act in our lives.
4. The prohibition of oaths is not taken literally in Christian countries, where oaths are handled in a court of law. But in a perfect society characterised by trust and truth-telling, oaths should not be needed to reinforce our words. Jesus promoted an atmosphere of openness and trust.
5. What he offers as a supplement to the Law of Moses is a morality of values held from the heart.
THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW AND THE LETTER OF THE LAW
1. The letter of the law says don’t kill but the spirit of the law emphasises all forms of killing. How many times have we murdered the good name and reputation of others with our idle, gossiping and chatter? How many times have we murdered our relationship with others by hateful thoughts of resentment and revenge in our hearts, or with abusive language and contempt of others?
2. The letter of the law stresses don’t commit adultery but the spirit of the law invites us to watch against lust, desire and passion of imagination or fantasies.
3. The law says no divorce but the spirit of the law insists no divided attention to commitment to God, relationships, others or ourselves.
4. The law states taking an oath to justify our actions is normal but the spirit of the law admonishes us to be truthful and direct on our stand, decision and action. Mt. 5:17-37
5. Finally, the Christian life does not invite us to be ´nice´ guys of YES AND NO AT THE SAME TIME, OR OF PRUDENCE: A GLORIFIED PRETENCE. BUT A DEFINABLE STAND OF NO TO BE NO AND YES TO BE YES.
LESSONS OF LIFE FOR US
a. We need to obey God’s Law, appreciating its basic principles: In obeying God’s commandments and Church law. Our obedience to the laws must be prompted by our love for God and our gratitude to God for His blessings.
b. We need to forgive, forget, and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “Be angry (righteous anger) but do not sin” (Eph. 4:26). When we keep anger in our spirit, we are inviting physical illnesses, like hypertension, and mental illnesses, like depression.
c. We need to be true to God, to ourselves and others. Let us allow God’s word of truth to penetrate our minds and hearts and to form our consciences, making us men and women of integrity and character.
d. We must respect not simply people’s right to life but also their right to dignity and self-respect.
OUR REFLECTION IN SUMMARY
For Jesus, the whole meaning of the Law can be summed up in one word–respect, or even better, reverence. Reverence for God and for the name of God, reverence for God’s day, respect for parents, respect for life, respect for property, respect for personality, respect for the truth and another person’s good name, respect for oneself so that wrong desires may never master us.
OUR PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Lord Jesus Christ, you were never a ¨nice¨ guy, but a good guy to everyone you met in life. Help us understand that the Christian life is not our external actions or words that may be nice, but a true living of life from the thoughts of heart in the Spirit of the gospel. Amen
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