Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 - Tuesday in the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 13:2, 5-18 and Matt 7:6, 12-14]"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the fate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." [Matthew]
The great Sermon on the Mount (chapters five through seven in the Gospel According to Matthew) is drawing to a close. Two important principles appear in today's passage. The first is a familiar one and is known in many cultures and traditions: Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. Most of us know this teaching as the "golden rule." Jesus goes so far as to say this rule is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He would show this rule in his life and death.
The second principle is Jesus' challenge to us to follow in his footsteps. The "narrow gate" is a life that rejects the many false pleasures and greed that are constantly coming at us from all sides. It seems to me that an analogy from health is helpful here. If one wants to stay in good shape and in good health, discipline in diet and activity is essential. The secular media is filled with ads urging us to consume, consume, consume. Some of these ads actually claim, in spite of studies to the contrary, that they are good for health, a terrible irony. In short, these temptations are a very wide road to poor health.
The same principle is at work spiritually and morally. Care of self means disciplined attention to emotional, physical and spiritual resources. Our "standard of living" can be confused with that wide road. Jesus gives us the right standard of living in the Sermon on the Mount. It is a narrower way than the way of the world, but it is the way that leads to life. AMEN