Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 13, 2011 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Sir 15:16-21; 1 Cor 2:6-10; Matt 5:17-37 or 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37]We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away... [1 Corinthians] You have heard it said, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment....
When St. Paul speaks of a wisdom for those who are mature - a wisdom not of "this age, nor of therulers of this age..." it is easy to let a phrase like that slide over our heads and go away. It is only when we come to the Sermon on the Mount and hear that wisdom in person that we begin to wonder about our maturity and our slavery to the "rulers of this age!" Be sure to read the "long version" to get the full flavor and impact of Jesus' teaching. Notice that he is speaking of what we would refer to as the fith, sixth and eighth commandments of the Ten Commandments: You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Notice that he takes these further than folks of his time would do. He goes inside the person! External behavior is not enough. How we feel or think can be just as sinful as how we act! In short, it is the WHOLE person that Jesus addresses, not just the external actions of the person.
"Maturity" calls us to a "wholeness." We Americans are prone to organizing our lives into little compartments which may or may not have any influence on each other. Faith is in one compartmnet, social life another, and career/business another, and marriage or relationships into still another! We can easily create a compartment for our feelings/thinking as well! We can put actions like killing, adultery and telling lies into a compartment we label as "private" and it's nobody's business, not even God's, what goes into that compartment. We may even continue to go to Mass and communion with that compartment nicely sealed away from our own consciousness! Perhaps we think that because we only "feel like killing or hurting," or only "think about adultery or lust," or "tell only little 'white lies' that we escape God's notice or don't endanger our integrity!
Christian maturity challenges us to realize that we cnanot separate our "inside" and our "outside." Bringing those together and acting as the complete faithful person is the clannge of Jesus' teaching. Are we "mature" enough to do this? Jesus seems to think so even if the "rulers of this age: are more than willing to dismiss his teaching as starry-eyed idealism, impractical for our times. To resisit the "rulers of our age" requires maturity and wisdom. Jesus offers this along with the responsibility that it requires. We do not have to remain divided into "inside and outside." AMEN
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