JESUS IS THE NEW LAWGIVER

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Scriptural Texts: Sirach 15:15-20, 1 Corinthians 2:6-10, Matthew 5:17-37

Today’s gospel reading is a continuation of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-12). The Sermon on the Mount centers on how Christians are to live. Today’s gospel reading indicates that most of the people who heard Jesus’ teaching on the mountain especially the Pharisees thought that Jesus had come to do away with the law given through Moses on the mount of Sinai and the teachings of the prophets on the Law. Therefore, to disabuse their mind, Jesus tells them not to think that he has come to abolish the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophet; rather, he has come to bring the Law to fulfilment and to make the teachings of the prophets come true (Matt. 5:17-19). The law promulgated through Moses and explained by the prophets was God's gift to his people, a kind of anticipation of the definitive Law which the Christ would lay down. Thus, as the Council of Trent defined, Jesus not only “was given to men as a Redeemer in whom they are to trust, but also as a lawgiver whom they are to obey.”

What Jesus does in today’s gospel is that he gives a greater meaning and weight to the Law and the teachings of the prophets. In the Law of Moses, murder, that is the willfully taking of another person’s life is prohibited (Exodus 20:13). But in this new law, Jesus says that it is not enough to say I am not guilty of murder. In fact, the one who is angry with one’s brother or sister or the who verbally abuses his neighbor and holds the other person in utter contempt is already on the way to committing murder (Matt. 5:21-24). What Jesus is trying to do here is to remind us that sins stem from the heart. As such, he focuses our attention, first, on internal sins- resentment, hatred, to make us realize that that is where the root lies and that for us to be righteous, it is important to nip anger in the bud.

Also, in the Old Law, adultery and the coveting of one’s neighbor’s wife were considered sinful (Exodus 20:17). Jesus says that it is not enough to say I have never slept with another person’s wife or husband. He says that anyone who looks at a woman or a man and wants to possess her/him is guilty of committing adultery with her or him in his heart (Matt 5:27-28). The eyes are the windows to the soul and they must be guarded. But then the instruction of Jesus that we should take out our right eye and cut off our right hand if they cause us to sin does not mean we should physically mutilate ourselves. Rather, it means that we should fight hard to be righteous without making any concessions; being ready to sacrifice anything including things we value most, which clearly could put us in the way of offending God (Matt. 5:29-30).

The third teaching of Jesus is on divorce. According to the law of Moses, anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce (Deut. 24:1) but Jesus is saying that if a man divorces his wife for any cause other than unfaithfulness, then he is guilty of making her commit adultery if she marries again, and the man who marries her commits adultery also. Against these rabbinical interpretations, Jesus re-establishes the original indissolubility of marriage as God instituted it (Genesis 1:27; 2:24; cf. Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 1:31; 1 Corinthians 7:10). The last teaching is on oath-taking. The Law of Moses absolutely prohibited perjury or violation of oaths (Exodus 20:7; Numbers 30:3; Deuteronomy 23:22) but Jesus is telling us to desist completely from oath-taking. Our life and conduct should not be built on deceit and insincerity but on truth. God is truth, and the children of the Kingdom must, therefore, base mutual relationships on truth. As the author of the book of Sirach tells us in the first reading, the choice is ours to make- whether to follow Jesus’ interpretation of the Law and Prophet or to follow the external observance of the Law as taught by the Scribes and Pharisees. Remember, those who walk in the law of the Lord are blessed (Psalm 119:1). May the hidden wisdom of God which St Paul spoke about in the second reading guide us in making the right choices (1 Corinthians 2:6-7). Amen.