Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time
MATTHEW 5:17-37 (Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10)
The series of gospel readings from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount continues. Like the rest of Matthew’s gospel, this sermon is also a compromise document. Matthew’s comm-unity, probably at Antioch in Syria, was by this time composed of large groups of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. We know that they did not always get along with each other. Compromises had to be found. Matthew’s commission from his Christian comm-unity is to attempt such compromises. A primary question that had to be solved: How many of the ancient laws of the Torah (the laws included in the first five books of our Bible) are still valid. Are they also compulsory for Gentile converts to Christianity?
Matthew is a true conservative but with common sense and very clever. Thus he depicts Jesus saying, “Don’t think I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, (the two main divisions of the Old Testament), I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”. His Bible is a Greek version of the Old Testament, so he goes even beyond this statement to claim that even a dot over the Greek letter iota (the equivalent of our English letter “i”) must be observed until the whole law has been accomplished. Cleverly he leaves open the question of whether or not this accomplishment has taken place. He follows with a threat. “Whoever relaxes one of these commandments, (613 of them), will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”
Left unsaid is whether his term “kingdom of heaven” is the Church on earth or life with God in the hereafter. Then comes praise for the conservative Christian scribes (teachers). “Whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom….” No need to pass up an opportunity to throw an insult toward the Jewish leaders in the synagogue across the street from the Christian synagogue, so a very human Matthew adds, “…unless your righteousness (meaning the doing of the laws of Moses) exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Next Matthew begins the “Six Antitheses” of his Sermon on the Mount. He quotes a law or practice from the Old Testament as a thesis, then gives it a new and more intensive meaning as an “Anti-Thesis.” The first thesis is the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
This law is intensified by forbidding even anger or name-calling (demonizing) that could lead to killing. In fact, it is not appropriate to approach the altar with one’s gift unless reconciliation with one’s enemies has taken place (or at least, it could be said, a sincere attempt at reconciliation). Whoever says ‘You fool’to insult someone, will be liable to the fire of Gehenna. Gehenna is the Valley of Hinom outside Jerusalem. It was at one time the location of idolatrous worship which burned children to the idol Moloch. It eventually became a symbol of an abyss, pit, or lake of fire to punish evildoers.
The next thesis, “The shalt not commit adultery.” Matthew intensifies the law, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Then come the notorious statements about amputation of bodily parts that cause one to sin. If taken literally, there would be few Christians who would not be amputees in some form. Not even the most radical biblical literalists understand this statement literally. If they did, they might even deserve the name ‘fool.’These sayings emphasize the import-ance of avoiding occasions of sin. Exaggeration is a legitimate biblical form of literature.
The next thesis is from Deuteronomy 24:1-4, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” The Matthean Jesus then forbids divorce except in case of
“unchastity.” A man who divorces his wife for any other reasons, such as the “liberals” of Matthew’s time allowed, makes his wife an adulteress, that is, if she remarries. Some of the “liberal” causes for divorce: if a man finds a more beautiful woman; if his wife burns his oatmeal. Sounds modern or worse! Matthew’s approach is so austere that he will take it up again in chapter 19. What is the meaning of “unchastity” in this trans-lation? Matthew’s Greek term is porneia. Catholic exegetes sometimes explain this term as incest or polygamy. It would be less than honest to avoid saying that those are not the only meanings. Porneia can also without a doubt mean adultery. There is not enough space here for further discussion of this sensitive matter.
The next thesis, “Do not swear falsely, but do what you have sworn.” Matthew intensifies this law. Christians have no business swearing at all. Yes or No should be sufficient among Christians. It is clear that such a law would not work in our society as now consti-tuted. The Quakers avoid swearing by stating, “I affirm, etc.” Next: retaliation. In the Old Testament, this was the ancient law: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc.” Revenge could only be taken in the same measure in which an injury was received. This law abolished the custom of unlimited revenge, widespread in ancient times, perhaps even in our time. For a Christian: No revenge at all! Humanly difficult! To this difficulty can be applied what Jesus said in another context, “Humanly speaking this is not possible, but with God all things are possible,” Matthew 19:26.
