6th A Ordinary Time

6th A

First reading: Reminds us several times that we have the power to “choose”.
Second reading: Our God is a God of wisdom, mysterious, hidden, deep. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on us, what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Gospel: We continue the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus addresses several important and yet complicated questions: his view of the Law and Prophets, murder, adultery, divorce and false oaths. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary treats this section with great care and great detail. There is no room here for knee jerk understanding or interpretation.

This section is Jesus’ interpretation of several scriptures. One of the keys to understanding Jesus’ words is 5:20 “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus now declares a former understanding of the Law inadequate as he places more stringent demands on his disciples. Jesus dares explicitly to modify or correct what Tgod said through Moses. He makes the demand of the Law more penetrating
He addresses murder, adultery, divorce and oaths.
1) MURDER. Killing another person is the epitome of broken relationships. The Law given to Moses forbids killing. Jesus’ command is to defuse anger and work toward reconciliation before the rupture in the relationship reaches a murderous stage. He then gives three concrete examples. a) avoid insulting one another, b) liturgical sacrifices do not cover over broken relationships, c) he warns against letting conflicts escalate to the point of litigation in court..
However there is a good kind of anger. St. Augustine said, “Hope has two lovely daughters, anger and courage. Anger so that what should not be is not and courage so that what should be is.”

2) ADULTERY. As anger is prohibited as the first step toward murder, so the lustful look is condemned as the prelude to adultery. The androcentric language (“...everyone who looks at a woman with lust...”) reflects a society in which male concerns dominate and in which marriage is commonly patriarchal. In our culture it is not only men who look with lust.

3) DIVORCE. Building on the previous example, Jesus adds that divorce is also a form of adultery. This is addressed to males and reflects the Jewish custom that only they could initiate divorce. (This is surely different in our present society and culture.) The commentary in the New Jerome Biblical Commentary states: “Since the matter of divorce is often painful, it is useful to remember that Jesus’ deep intent was not to cause pain but to set out a clear and high ideal of human relations, a vision of marriage as a covenant of personl love between spouses which reflects the covenant relationship of God and his people. Unfortunately this vision does not always fit the vagaries of the human heart.”

4) OATHS. Jesus insists that relations among Christians be so transparent as to end the need for taking oaths at all. “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.” We must examine our personal responses and be aware that a different meaning to ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ is often experienced in our culture.