February 3, 2008
Matthew 5:1-12
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s
third reading continues from the Gospel according to Matthew. It is the
beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Those famous introductory verses are
known as the Beatitudes, and they form a kind of “preamble” to the teachings of
Jesus which follow.
In context, Jesus has now called his
first disciples, the two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew, James and John. He
begins touring Galilee, proclaiming the good news and curing people “of every
disease and illness.” As his reputation spreads, people gather around him from
Galilee, Judea, and even from “across the river,” bringing with them their
sick, “those afflicted with various diseases and racked with pain: the
possessed, the lunatics, the paralyzed.”
In Matthew’s scheme of things, he
shows Jesus as the New Moses. Just as Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive
God’s law for his people, now Jesus ascends a mountainside. A new Moses is
about to provide a new law for the new People of God. The scene is set. When
Jesus sees the suffering crowds, he goes up on the mountainside, calls his
disciples around him, and begins to speak.
As Jesus begins the beatitudes, he
is addressing the disciples, those nearest him. He provides them with the basic
disposition they will need to understand the things he will say. He expresses
to the disciples through the Beatitudes those essential spiritual
characteristics necessary for anyone who wants to be a true disciple.
Matthew lists eight beatitudes. They
might best be considered in two groups of four. The first group: “the poor in
spirit,” “the sorrowing,” “the lowly,” “those who hunger and thirst for
justice,” somehow commemorate the “Poor of Yahweh,” the Anawim.
These are those who seem to be short-changed, the unfortunate ones of this
world who are without influence or dignity, or means of support. This first
group of “Blesseds” expresses a passive attitude.
They are receivers, beneficiaries of the Kingdom, of the gracious free
salvation offered by God. They are the beneficiaries in the here and now of
blessedness, a peace and happiness that comes from belonging to the Kingdom.
The one thing that makes them one is
somehow expressed in the meaning and understanding of the first “blessed.”
“Happy” is a better word and “fortunate” seems the best word. “Fortunate are
the poor in spirit,” for to be poor in spirit is to have the mind and attitude
of the Anawim, to be conscious of standing before God
naked and defenseless, trusting in Him alone, relying totally on Him for
everything. Lest we relegate the “poor in spirit” to the obviously
disadvantaged, to a particular social class, or perhaps to tragedy-prone
individuals, we need to be aware that these “poor” are found in all walks of
life, in all social classes. To be poor in the Gospel sense has nothing to do
with economics. The “Gospel poor” are those who are totally in need before God.
They find their “home in His Word and their treasure in His Kingdom.”
The second group of four (unique to
Matthew): “the merciful,” “the singlehearted,” “the
peacemakers,” “those persecuted for holiness sake,” are related as having
active attributes, as if they are the protectors of the poor and oppressed.
They are those who actively seek to make things right. Their fate, too, is that
they are blessed, happy, fortunate, because they too belong to the Kingdom.
“Happy are those who work for peace among
men; God will call them his sons!
“Happy are those who are persecuted because they do
what God requires;
the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them!
Rev. Mr. Carlos Cannatella
St. Landry Church
February 10,
2008
Matthew
5:13-16
1st Sunday in Lent
Today’s
third reading is from the Gospel according to Matthew. It continues from last
week’s reading of the Beatitudes, and concludes Matthew’s introduction to the
Great Sermon.
In
context, Jesus is still addressing his disciples who have chosen to follow him
and are now seated near him on the mountainside. In the Beatitudes, Jesus spoke
to them about the basic characteristics necessary for anyone who wants to be a
true disciple. Now he teaches them about the nature of their roles as disciples
by defining for them what discipleship is all about.
In
his description of discipleship, Jesus uses two metaphors. He draws on
phenomena from everyday life in Palestine for his examples. Salt and light are
the elements he uses because both are necessities of life.
Jesus
tells his disciples, “You are the salt
of the earth.” To understand the richness of what Jesus says be aware that
salt was a precious commodity, and a necessity for life. It was used to
preserve foods. Newborn babies were rubbed with salt, probably as a
“safe-guard” against demonic influences. Salt was used as a medium of pay. The
Latin word for salt - sal- gives us our word
“salary.” Covenants were sealed by taking salt together. “The Lord, the God of
Israel, has given the kingdom of Israel to David forever, by a covenant made in
salt.” Perhaps above all, salt is one of the most precious elements of the
earth. The earth cannot subsist without it. It flavors and makes palatable the
foods of this earth. So it is with those who would follow Jesus as disciples.
They too are a necessity for life, a precious element, giving life a special
flavor.
During
the time of Jesus, salt was mostly chemically impure and unstable. It often
lost its saltiness and therefore its value very quickly. So it is with those
who would follow Jesus as disciples. In terms of the Kingdom, they are to be to
the fullest, all that discipleship calls them to be, all
that Jesus calls them to be: seasoning, preservative. To be anything less, to
live anything less than their calling is to be rendered tasteless, and
therefore useless, “good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled
underfoot.”
Jesus
tells his disciples, “You are the light
of the world.” To understand the richness of what Jesus says, the
Palestinian lamp was most often a single, simple lamp, sometimes only a small
wick floating in a saucer of oil. It served its purpose only if it were set out
in the clear, so that its light was unimpeded. Such is the duty, the nature of
light: to be seen, to brighten the darkness, to reveal that which is hidden.
Perhaps above all, light in those days had long symbolized the presence of God:
“the fire flaming out of the bush,” “the column of fire by night to give them
light,” “the light that shone in the darkness.”
So
it is with those who would follow Jesus as disciples. There is no such thing as
secret discipleship. It has to be seen and witnessed by all. Disciples are to
“shine before men.” They are to be lights of God’s presence. They are to
enlighten and guide, to reveal and make known the presence of God, the love of
God, the saving power of God. In short, they are to reveal the Good News of
God’s love to the world.
“You are salt,” Jesus says, and the
implications are tremendous. He says, “you are,” not
“you will be,” not “you can be.” It is not a conditional statement. Jesus says,
“You are salt.” You are seasoning,
called to enhance. You are special seasoning, called to impart your own special
flavor to those around you. That which gives us our particular flavor is God’s
love for us. God’s love gives us being, gives our life meaning, gives
specialness to who and what we are.
Jesus
calls us to be disciples just as we are. Like salt, He calls us to enhance the
Kingdom of His Father. He calls us to season the world with the divine love, to
share our own special flavor, our own experience of His love, with those around
us.
“You are light,” Jesus says. Again, the implications are tremendous. He
says of Himself, “I
am the light of the world.” When He assures you that “you are light,” He
pays a compliment of the highest order, which carries with it responsibilities
of the highest order.
Light
of its very nature enlightens, dispels darkness, makes visible. Of its very
nature, light is meant to be seen, to be diffused to whatever and whomever it
is exposed. That which makes us light is God’s presence within us. God’s
presence gives us being, gives our life meaning, and gives special brilliance
to who and what we are.
Jesus
calls us to be disciples just as we are and, like light, He calls us to make
visible the Kingdom of His Father. He calls us to light up the world with the
divine presence, to share our own special light, our own intimate experience of
His presence with those around us.
As
Jesus calls us into discipleship, He tells us that God’s presence will be seen
in us (i.e., our light will shine) when we perform good works that praise the
Father and give Him glory.
As
Isaiah calls us to “true fasting,” he tells us that when we perform special
acts of love and practical charity by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
sheltering the homeless, God’s presence will be known in us (i.e., our light
will shine.)
February 17, 2008
Matthew
5:17-37
2nd Sunday in Lent
Today’s third reading is from the
Gospel according to Matthew. It is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in
which Jesus, the New Moses, presents the New Torah, the new law which will
guide those called to live in the New Kingdom of God.
The
opening verses are a lengthy statement on the relationship between the Law of
Moses and Jesus. They seem to place Jesus and that Law within the context of
continuity, one taking up from, and continuing the other. In the opening
statement, Jesus says, “Do not think
that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come, not to
abolish them, but to fulfill them.” With that, he states his basic and
fundamental stance. Probably no other verse in Matthew’s Gospel has caused as
much controversy as this one, in our time as well as in the time of Jesus.
“To fulfill the law,” in Jesus’ day
meant to obey to the full all the precepts of the Torah, the Pentateuch, their scriptures. But, when Jesus says he came to fulfill
the Law he is not speaking of simply obeying the laws. He speaks in the sense
of completing the law, of fulfilling, of accomplishing
the purpose God intended with the Law. In his life Jesus completely obeyed
the law, and He became its fulfillment.
“The Law and the Prophets” pointed
ahead to Jesus the Messiah. Before He came, the Law of Moses was the center of
the religious world, the norm of judgement, and the
criterion for man’s actions. The Law was to last “until heaven and earth pass
away” and “until the purpose is achieved.”
That ‘time’ came with Jesus. Jesus
is the beginning of the end, and with Him all things have been fulfilled. Both
the Law and the Prophets and the purpose for which God intended the Law have
been accomplished. Only Jesus and his
teaching remain. The law that now binds his followers is the commands of
Jesus, whether they are according to or contrary to the Law of Moses.
“The Law and the Prophets” also pointed
to the essence of the revelations contained in the scriptures,
that is the Law of God as God’s will for man’s behavior, as man’s
response to God’s love. When Jesus says he came to fulfil
the Law, he was not giving us another law to replace the old. He was simply
announcing with new insight and indeed with His own life the deeper meaning of
that Law. He gives new interpretation and wider applications to the old law.
As Jesus proceeds with the Sermon,
he sets in motion a series of challenges, which call his disciples into a
deeper holiness. The demands of that new holiness are spelled out in a series
of six contrasts, six antithesis statements which deepen and make more radical
the demands of the law. Each of the six statements is introduced by the formula
“You have heard the commandment …”
followed by a verbatim quotation of the law.
And after each law, Jesus continues “but
what I say to you is…” With that, He
gives broader interpretation. He adds to the meaning of the law, and in a very
radical way, he asks his listeners to do the same.
Four of those antithetical
statements make up the rest of today’s reading.
·
The
first statement cites the Decalogue command against murder. It is enlarged now
to include anger, underscoring it as the root of violence and the beginning of
murder. Anger directed at one’s brother betrays a murderous heart and needs to
be resolved by both parties before worshiping at the altar, lest anger takes
over and becomes the guiding force for one’s actions.
·
The
second statement cites the Decalogue command against adultery: now Jesus’ new
command “interiorizes” that command. Jesus widens the
command to now include impurities of the heart, lust, wherein man sins in his
inmost being. For the look at another as an object of lust is to violate the
respect due that other as a human person.
·
The
third statement concerns the Jewish law governing divorce. It is directed
against the two schools of thought about divorce at that time. One school
permitted divorce only in the case of adultery; the other granted divorce for
practically any reason. Jesus simply says no to the practice of divorce for
whatever reasons.
·
The
fourth statement concerns the injunction against oaths. Out of reverence for
the name of God, the Jews never took the name of the Lord “in vain.” They
substituted instead such phrases as “by Jerusalem,” or “by heaven,” or other
such equivalents. Jesus’ command is again a radical one, “Do not swear at all!”
With those contrasting statements,
Jesus calls us into a deeper and more profound understanding of our
relationships with other people. He calls us to a new behavior by expanding our
notion of law and our understanding of love.
Rev. Mr. Carlo Cannatella
St. Landry Catholic Church