Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - St. Anthony of Padua
[2 Corinthians 3:4-11 and Matthew 5:17-19]Not that we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us a ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
The words of St. Paul seem to contrast sharply with the words of Jesus in the gospel scripture today. There Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." The fact is that in early Christianity there were two streams of understanding and these were in tension with each other for a long time. On one hand there were those who had grown up in Judaism with its emphasis on the Law of Moses contained in the Torah (first five books of the OT). On the other hand, there were those who were converted from Judaism (like St. Paul) or paganism. For the latter, the Mosaic law no longer served as a detailed authority, although the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) and the "greatest commandments," love of God and of neighbor, were still considered of value. Ultimately the Pauline view of Christianity won out as the dominant approach, but it was shaped and restrained to some extent by the Jewish roots. In Matthew, Jesus is seen as not rejecting the law as such but interpreting it in a new way so that the law takes on almost a new identity. The issue may seem to be one of historical interest only to modern Catholics, except that we continue to live on this planet with Jews, Moslems and other religious movments. The Torah is still God's covenant with the Jews. The Quran is still God's word to Moslems. These written documents are life and death to millions of people and shape the way they see us Christians! The community at Corinth took Paul's view to extremes, claiming that their faith freed them to behave in ways clearly incompatible with the Christian message! Freedom from the "letter of the law" did not mean they were free to do anything they wanted as long as they believed in Christ! The issue also takes the form of an interpretation of Catholicism that is too rigorist and ignores the values of love and mercy on one hand and an interpretation that leaves everything up to the individual conscience without reference to any common "law." Perhaps we will always live with this tension, which may not be an entirely bad thing if it produces a healthy balance in our all too human efforts to be faithful to Jesus and his mission. AMEN