Is Jesus a law breaker or a law keeper?

Sixth Sunday in OT A 2020

To ask you a rather odd question:  Is Jesus a law breaker or a law keeper?

From the perspective of the critique of Jesus against the legalism of the Scribes and Pharisees, in Jesus extending the merciful love of God to sinners, you can say that Jesus dismisses the preoccupation of law- keeping and emphasizes the mercy and the love and the compassion of God.  From the perspective of the scribes and pharisees, Jesus seems to be a law breaker.  Jesus was eventually crucified because the leaders of religion and government considered Jesus to be a law breaker.

On the other hand, Jesus is clear in today’s Gospel in saying: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.  Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”

The real message of Jesus in today’s Gospel is yes we need to live very ethically and have a deep respect for the rule of law.  The commandments are not just suggestions or guidelines.  We are to obey the commandments.  But Jesus is also saying very clearly that rule keeping is not the end of the story; we are called to be disciples in which we seek to encounter Jesus in prayer and in daily life.

Discipleship of Jesus is deeper than obedience to the law.  Jesus fulfills the law by demanding more in the way of love.  Discipleship demands conversion of heart.

It should not surprise us that Jesus goes beyond the requirements of the laws of the Old Testament, even while saying they need to be observed.  In this section of Matthew’s gospel Jesus fleshes out a deeper meaning and intent of the commandments.  For example, when he speaks of the sin of murder, the taking of another’s life, he speaks of it as including the diminishment of a person’s life by harsh words or actions.

We can keep all the rules but if our hearts are not filled with the joy of the Gospel in the words of Pope Francis, we haven’t experienced the conversion of our hearts.

For example, in living out the Sacrament of Marriage, it is not just a legal contract of an eye for an eye and not committing adultery.  Marriage is a lifelong covenant of love in which two people are called to love and honor each other in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health for all the days of their lives. 

Today’s Gospel calls us to the vision of discipleship that while detail and discipline can train us in keeping the rules, we can only discover how to love through forgiving those who have hurt us irrespective of whether they ask for forgiveness or not,  or are repentant or not.  We can only discover how to love by helping those in need, whether they deserve help or not.  We can only discover how to love by standing with those who are oppressed even if it is dangerous for us.  Yes, we live in complex times in which we wonder about the morality of issues of immigration, of homeland security and the like.  The Lord calls to welcome and to stand with people who are in need.  We can only discover how to love by asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds with wisdom.

Discipleship of the Lord Jesus is not taking the easy road of lax morality; rather our discipleship leads us to follow the example of the one who laid down his life for our salvation and out of love for each and every one of us.

We are called to more than just keeping the rules.  We are called to love deeply.  May our prayerful question be not just about rule-keeping but how do I discern to say YES to the plan of God for my life. 

Jesus offers a much more challenging ethic than legalism because we are not able to say we’ve met our obligation as long as anyone goes hungry or suffers oppression or is abandoned and alone.  This ethic requires endless charity. 

Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount presents Jesus as the new Moses, not as a lawgiver but as a guide who shows us a life full of blessing, of joy, and service to people in need.

For me as a priest confessor in the beautiful sacrament of reconciliation, the priest is not meant just to  be a spiritual attorney general determining whether the law has been broken or not, or whether a particular action is a sin or not; rather, the primary ministry of the priest is to communicate the healing, forgiving, merciful love of Jesus.  Yes, the priest can provide needed counsel, but more importantly the priest is to share the merciful love of Jesus with the penitent.

As we celebrate the Eucharist, may we be mindful of today’s Gospel:  “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 and first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

The lesson for us clear.  This is how seriously God views our human relationships.  We cannot hate our neighbor – no matter who he or she is, no matter whether they deserve it or not – and then say we love God.  For whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Christ himself.

To give a preview to next Sunday’s Gospel, we are to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.

In the words of Pope Francis, “my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving.   Jesus does not tire of saying to us:  Give them something to eat.”

In the Gospel, we hear no ordinary rabbi interpreting the Torah but One whom we already know to be God’s beloved Son not “going light” on the law and the prophets but going deeper and challenging us to reach beyond the letter of the law to the fulfillment realized only in self-sacrificing live.

May all of us have a blessed day as disciples of the Lord Jesus.