Sixth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: Righteousness Surpasses Pharisees’ 超越法利塞人的義德
God gave humanity the Ten Commandments through Moses to redeem them. Observing the Ten Commandments was sufficient for us to be justified and be saved. That is why Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). He makes it clear that His mission is not to overthrow the Old Testament in order to establish the New. Instead, the New Testament is to fulfil, to accomplish the Old. Some of us may feel disappointed but the fact is, Jesus has only given us just one new commandment (John 13:34) and no more. Moreover, this new commandment does not contradict or override the Ten Commandments. What does Jesus mean by “to fulfil the law”? He does not come to rewrite the law but to restore its spirit, the original intention of giving the law. It is because throughout the ages, men gradually drifted away from the spirit of the Commandments and kept them more in a literal manner not only because it is more easily to do so, but also because a new class of legal experts has arisen to build a human tradition around the Commandments.
In themselves, the Ten Commandments are vague but they were sufficient in ancient times when life was simpler. “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13) becomes vague when social life grows in complexity. For example, if I intend to kill a person whom I hate but somehow he survives. Suppose he is only blinded or maimed by me. Have I breached the Commandment? Humanity hates ambiguity and wants certainty. Furthermore, they want justice to prevail! So, new regulations were set up to catch what had been missing! “But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (21:23-25). There is no more uncertainty, right? But how can you cover all possible circumstances? Take another example. “The seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work …” (20:10). But it is obviously impossible not to do any work on the seventh day. So the scribes and Pharisees who were famous opponents of Jesus in the gospels helped by interpreting them in more concrete and more manageable manners. They came up with the concept of “Sabbath Day’s Journey”, a distance of 2000 cubits from the centre of worship (Joshua 3:3). Certainty and order were re-established and life had become more tolerable again … until the next wave of societal advancements!
The Pharisees used to be national heroes in the establishment of the Jewish identity during the Babylonian Captivity. The Judaism they set up served the Jews well even when there was no more Temple, when there was no location to offer sacrifice to God. Thanks to the prophets. They were able to spiritualize sacrifices. For example, the Psalter says, “For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn” (Psalms 51:18-19). With the support from the Prophets and Holy Writings, the Pharisees arose to challenge the traditional status of priests who only accepted the Torah/Law. With the destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian Captivity gave the Pharisees an opportunity to interpret and spiritualize the Commandments. Gradually, their interpretations of the Commandments had become the “standard/norm” which were some objective and unambiguous criteria to pass judgments on whether the Commandments had been breached. Priests were side-lined to perform sacrifices only.
Brethren! Beware! There is a small Pharisee inside each and every one of us! Jesus once warns us, “Look out, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees … the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6; 12). The teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees was the core of the Old Testament. In short, they taught that offering sacrifices and observing the law would bring us salvation. They were not totally wrong, only incomplete because they had not given sufficient attention to the role of grace. That is why Jesus came to fulfil the Old Testament by highlighting God’s work of mercy! The argument between human efforts and divine grace has been going on throughout the ages. Pelagianism was one such typical position. In 2018, Pope Francis promulgated the Apostolic Exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate” to talk about the call to holiness in today’s world. The Pope mentions two enemies to holiness. One of them is Pelagianism, i.e. justification by personal efforts, the worship of the human will and their own abilities. It is expressed in a variety of “ways of thinking and acting: an obsession with the law … a punctilious concern for the Church’s liturgy, doctrine and prestige, a vanity about the ability to manage practical matters, and an excessive concern with programmes of self-help and personal fulfilment …” (GE #57). In other words, Pelagianism is “the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” which Jesus has warned above. Therefore, if we insist on receiving the Holy Communion by tongue because it is more pious and elevate the practice to become norms which everybody should follow, if we refuse infant baptisms when parents’ marriages are not sacramental, if we complain Vatican for allocating funds to feed the hungry instead of renovating churches, if the Roman Curia prevents women from ordination, signs secret deals with atheist regimes and if we spend more time and energy studying theology of spirituality instead of praying, the small Pharisee inside us has gained the upper hand!
So, how does our righteousness surpass the Pharisee’s? When our thinking and action spring from the love of God and the love of our neighbour, we are justified.
It is not sufficient not to commit adultery. We need to respect our bodies which were created by God. To make room for further growth and advancement, we were incomplete when we were created. Most of us need to seek fulfilment through becoming one body with our spouses (Genesis 2:24). This fulfilment is more than mere carnal pleasures but also spiritual interflows as well. When carnal pleasures are divorced from spiritual satisfactions, it becomes lust which has generated a huge pornography industry all over the world! It is a degradation of other persons into objects. Thus lust disrespects God! How can you please God when you look at a woman with lust (Matthew 5:28)!
Jesus sounds rather harsh when He teaches, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No’. Anything more is from the evil one” (5:37) Why do people tell ‘white lies’ to console dying patients? Why do government officials evade criticisms by putting up a lot of irrelevant details to cover up an issue? Why do magistrates nowadays mete out disproportionate punishments ‘to send out a clear message to the public to deter similar crimes in the future’, when deterrence is proven not to be an effective nor morally acceptable justification for criminal punishments? Is it because the people concerned are not ready to accept the truth? Therefore, for their well-being, not telling the truth is the right thing to do? Then who is legitimate to pass judgment on when they will be ready, if not now? I doubt very much the motivation to tell lies is for the good of the other parties instead of personal gains! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13). When we do not respect truth, not only are we not loving our brothers, but we also disrespect God the Holy Spirit!
Brethren! Invoke the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love to help us fulfil the law. Amen.
God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: jingdaily.com
No comments:
Post a Comment