Once again, we come to that part of the year where we listen to the Sermon on the Mount in the weekday readings from the Gospel. Initially God communicated with the people of Israel through the prophets and the written Law in the Old Testament. That communication was always limited by our capacity as human being to understand and interpret God’s message. The books of Leviticus, Deuteronomy and all the interpretive books written by the rabbis stand as a testament to how we try to reduce God’s Word to easy-to-follow laws that limit our responsibilities in a sensible, logical, and human way.
The Sermon on the Mount comes from Jesus who is the son of God, part of the Trinity. That day on that mount in Galilee, Jesus opened up his heart to us to reveal God’s desire for us and his intention in creating us. Rather than proposing a life of striving to fulfill some legal requirements that define and limit our responsibilities, the Sermon on the Mount invites us to live within the heart of God, to live loving God and others. No limits. No conditions. No personal advantages.
Throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses the phrase: ‘You have heard XXX; now I tell you YYY.’ The XXX part is what Israel had understood of God’s revelation and how we as humans had reduced God’s plan to a more accommodating way of life based on our way of thinking. Jesus uses the XXX as a building block or steppingstone to YYY. That additional step is into the true heart of God’s desire for us.
Today Jesus speaks to us about love. A life based on ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy’ or ‘be good to those who are good to you and don’t take into consideration those who are against you’ is a good, stable life. That would produce a lifestyle that is basically morally stable. Jesus calls us to be more. Christians are not called to be basic. Jesus points out that even the worst members of the neighborhood (the publicans, tax collectors) and even pagans live under that practical moral imperative. There is nothing new or good about that lifestyle.
Jesus calls us to live in the heart of God and as a sign of the heart of God. We are called to love all including our enemies, the member of the neighborhood, those who would take advantage of us, those who have no respect of others, and those who damage us. That is the way God loves and that is what is inside of us since our creation. As St Francis of Assisi say, that is what will give us perfect joy.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
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