Here’s my Homily for Thursday June 14th, 2012 (Thursday of the 10th week in Ordinary Time) The Gospel reading is Matthew 5: 20-26:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother,
‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, “You fool,” will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
A friend who’s a police officer a few months ago posted on his facebook wall this story along with some of his own editorial comments that I don’t feel are appropriate to mention in a Church (or outside of a Church for that matter)that expressed his justifiable anger over the story.
The article said that there was this guy who had been arrested for drunk driving three different times. This last, third time he was arrested he happened to have his 5 year old son in the car, while he was driving a snow plow which he ended up crashing into some woman’s house. On the two previous times he had been found passed out in his car in a school parking lot and the other time he was involved in a hit and run accident.
Well in Massachusetts were this took place, they have a three strikes and your out rule that says he loses his drivers license. But a judge ruled that even though the defendant refused to take a Breathalyzer test (which is one way they consider you admitting your guilt) and even confessed that he was drunk (as if the snow plow going through the house wasn’t evidence enough), because this didn’t take place on a public street, the judge agreed with his lawyer, that technically he couldn’t be convicted for drunk driving, so he got his drivers license back.
We hear a story like that and it’s infuriating isn’t it? Rational, sane individuals can see that the man has proven that he is ill equipped to responsibly utilize the privilege of driving. Why would the courts legally give him another chance to prove that? Because they determined that this woman’s private property wasn’t a public street? That’s just insane… Then again, we are living in a country, with courts that decided that a pregnant woman is said not to be carrying a human being within her womb – despite the fact that a pregnant woman has never given birth to a plant or any other life form, so I guess we can’t always count on courts to see logic – but I digress…
These types of examples rightly shock and upset us because, well, we should know better. We know that the reason that lawmakers came up with the three strikes rule was in the interest of public safety and assumed that getting arrested for drunk driving one time is bad enough and should be a wake up call; your found guilty twice, you gotta be kidding – three times, well obviously you’re not only immature, your dangerous. But we know there’s lots of examples of courts and other corners of society that seem to be living by a philosophy where they follow the letter of the law rather than letting the spirit, the intention behind it guide them… Because the court looked at precise language rather than the relationship of this individual to the rest of society, technically, this thrice arrested drunk driver was allowed the privilege to drive again.
Jesus is dealing with a similar type of debate over the letter of the law and the spirit of the law in this section of the Gospel. Today’s reading (and the two Gospels that would follow tomorrow and Saturday if we weren’t celebrating the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart – but your missionaries, go ahead and read it Matthew chapter 5 from verse 17-37) In this section Jesus is touching on something that the Jewish leaders, teachers, scholars, experts all held sacred. The Law. The Commandments. The covenantal agreement the people had entered into with the Creator that made them forever His people and forever their God. And in this, he’s doing something that’s going to cause quite a stir. He’s claiming an authority even greater than the Law. He’s bringing that law to it’s fulfillment. Which we know is going to set things in motion which will lead to Jesus’ Passion.
But let’s just stick with this section of the Gospel and get to the core of what’s happening here. What is Jesus saying about the Law, the commandments? One of the things that jumps out is that the Lord doesn’t appreciate when we take His commandments, His Laws looking for loopholes. He doesn’t expect us to act like a child who’s told “clean your plate” and then pretends to not understand why he gets in trouble when he does clean his plate in the garbage can with a paper towel.
Because the whole point of the law, the whole point of the covenant with God is about relationship with Him. So (despite what some “progressive” “Catholics” will argue the opposite) yes – exterior behaviors are important (Jesus starts this whole section by saying “do not imagine I have come to abolish the law”) – he’s following that by saying, “but those exterior behaviors are not enough.”
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, to be a citizen of His Kingdom, to be in relationship with Him means that our attitudes, the desires of our heart – they also must be pleasing to God. That’s how we bring the law and the commandments to fulfillment ourselves. At our final judgment, it’s not going to be a dialogue or debate where we can sit across from the Lord and say Well Lord, technically I followed your commands… Technically I never took a gun or a knife and “killed” someone – conveniently forgetting the butcher job I did when I was talking about someone… or Lord, when did I ever commit adultery – me and the people I fooled around with were never married…
No those technicalities and loopholes will be seen for the illogical, ridiculous arguments that they are in the light of Christ. Who is challenging us with this Gospel message by asking, how can we pretend to have an intimacy with God who has a love for every man, every woman that he created as a Father who loves His Children – when in my heart I carry anger, lust and lying. Because when I carry those things, they are the root of misguided desires that corrupt my heart which treats; uses these beloved Children of His as only objects for my pleasure, my indulgence, my ridicule, or my scorn.
May you and I not be confused or misled by the loopholes, the faulty logic, the ridiculous technicalities that so often govern, so often excuse behavior we know is wrong in the world around us to mislead us in our relationship with Jesus Christ. He expects better of us. He knows we’re better than that. Because He has come to bring us into ultimate union with God the Father. He has come to fulfill the Father’s plan for us and all creation – and has gifted us with the Holy Spirit to know, to discern; to follow that plan. The question is, will we remain attentive, steadfast and courageous to be led by Him or wonder is there some way we can get off on a technicality?
