Word to the Wise
Saturday, March 12, 2022 - 1st Week of Lent - Sat
[Deut 26:16-19 and Matt 5:43-48]Today you are making this agreement with the Lord; he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LOrd, your God, as he promised." [Deuteronomy] "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. [Matthew]
Today the Word of God presents us with the two covenants into which the Bible is traditionally divided: the Old and New Testaments! The Book of Deuteronomy is a restatement of the covenant God made with Moses on Mt. Sinai and reflects a great reform movement within Judaism during the reign of King Josiah, but reflects events that post-date Moses. The Gospel According to Matthew paints a portrait of Jesus as a "new Moses" bringing a new covenant which fulfills the purpose of the old one but takes it much further. The passage from the Sermon on the Mount [Matt. 5-7] shows just how startling Jesus' new covenant can be.
The "new covenant" aims at interior conversion that is then reflected in everyday living. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the "new law of Christ" as "nothing other than the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through faith in Christ." (ST I-II, q. 106). But this faith and the movement of the Spirit are realized in actual human persons who can be very fickle or choosy about things like loving an enemy! The covenant in Deuteronomy, quoted above, speaks of a people who are to be different from any other nation because of God's choice. But this covenant depends on observance of God's commands! When Jesus says we must be "perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect," he is saying that we are called to be faithful to Jesus' teachings just as God will be faithful in being with us, even when we are less than perfect. We are not called to the same perfection as God since that would make us God!
It could be a very useful Lenten spiritual exercise to read the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel According to Matthew and examine our conscience as to how much of it we can honestly say we live up to! Jesus offers us a "new covenant." Are we keeping our side of the bargain? AMEN