6th Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell,
OP
Paul
speaks to those who are mature a wisdom. Not the wisdom of this
passing age, nor the wisdom of the rulers of this age. But “God’s
wisdom, mysterious, hidden. . .” To hear God's wisdom and
understand, the hearer must be mature. Not elderly in age but mature
in spirit, one whose life with God has ripened and produced good
spiritual fruit. For those of us who are not yet ready to hear God's
wisdom, not yet mature enough to understand, Paul notes a way in, a
way into the hidden mysteries. God reveals. Through His Holy
Spirit He offers us a revelation. And what does God reveal? He
reveals all that the eye has not seen; all that the ear has not
heard; all that has failed to enter the human heart. He reveals to
those who love Him all that He has prepared. And we call this
revelation Wisdom. Not the passing-away wisdom of this age, but the
Wisdom of God, the Wisdom Christ is sent to fulfill. The Law and the
Prophets revealed God's Wisdom in word and deed, preaching and
teaching His ways to a wayward people. Christ reveals God's Wisdom in
flesh and blood, preaching and teaching the Way back to
righteousness. Jesus says, “. . .unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven.”
Since
our places in the kingdom of heaven depend on our righteousness, it
might be prudent for us to figure out how to surpass the scribes and
Pharisees in righteousness. If we were try to surpass their
righteousness on their own terms, we'd likely fail. Righteousness for
the scribes and Pharisees was achieved through the meticulous
observance of some 600+ regulations, animal sacrifices in the
Jerusalem temple, and the daily recitation – in Hebrew – of a
number of lengthy prayers. How do we surpass this sort of
righteousness? We don't. We can't. What righteousness we can claim
comes to us as a freely offered gift from God. We accept this freely
offered gift, or we do not. If we accept the gift of righteousness,
God makes us right through the death and resurrection of Christ. If
we do not accept the gift, then nothing we can do will make us right
with God. When Jesus says that he came to fulfill the Law, he means
that he came to keep the promises of the Law and to make good on our
end of the deal. So, we surpass the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees by placing ourselves among those who love God; who receive
His Wisdom; and who strive to understand and live by His will.
Loving
God, receiving His Wisdom, and striving to understand and live by His
will are each a sign of spiritual maturity. Taken together, they are
signs not only of righteousness but holiness as well. Notice what
Jesus is teaching the disciples in this formula: “You have heard
that it was said to your ancestors. . .but I say to you.” Our
ancestors taught us not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to swear
a false oath. That's the Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Law not to
abolish it. Murder, adultery, and lying are still wrong. However, b/c
Jesus has fulfilled the Law and revealed the first commandment –
the Law of Love – we know why murder, adultery, and lying are all
morally evil. They all violate love. In some way, each one offends
the dignity of the human person, trespassing against the image and
likeness of God that each one of us manifests. When we love God;
receive His Wisdom, and strive to understand and live by His will, we
see Him revealed in one another, and we love one another b/c He
created us for love and loved us first. The spiritually mature hear
and understand God's Wisdom: love is fundamental, grounding,
all-defining, and absolute. Choose love and your faith will ripen and
produce good spiritual fruit.
Choose
love, I said. Choose. We hear this again from the Wisdom
of Ben Sira, Sirach:
“[God] has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose,
stretch forth your hand.” Touch water, or touch fire. Choose. One
soothes, the other burns. Sirach continues: “Before [you] are life
and death, good and evil, whichever [you] choose shall be given
[you].” Choose and your choice will be given. That's a frightening
proposition. Not so much the choices themselves, but the very idea
that we must choose, and that we are responsible for the choices we
make. Of course, we know that we are responsible for our material
choices. We get a ticket for speeding. We gain weight when we choose
to eat that second King Cake. We get docked for missing a day of
work. But do we understand that our spiritual choices – the choices
we make to love, to forgive, to give God thanks, or not to do any of
those things – do we understand that these choices also have real
consequences for which we are responsible? Sirach says, “Choose
good or evil, life or death.” One soothes, the other burns. If you
always choose love – God's love – your choice cannot fail, the
consequences can never be dire. “Immense is the wisdom of the Lord.
. .”
The
Law and the Prophets revealed God's Wisdom in word and deed,
preaching and teaching His ways to a wayward people. Christ reveals
God's Wisdom in flesh and blood, preaching and teaching the Way back
to righteousness. Christ does not simply teach his Father's wisdom.
He doesn't simply act out his Father's wisdom. Christ IS his Father's
wisdom – given a body, a soul, a mind, and a mission. Christ is
“what
eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the
human heart.” And he is “what God has prepared for those who love
him.” No, rather, he is “who
God has prepared for those who love him.” Our choice is Christ. Not
a what
but a who
–
the person of Christ, his body and blood, freely given and freely
received to bring you and me into righteousness, a surpassing
righteousness. And our mission – the mission we have all accepted
and vowed to complete – is to give our bodies, our souls, our
hearts and minds to the enduring labor of being Christ out there.
Christ fulfills the Law. Our obligations to the Law have been met.
Now, having chosen Life – Life Eternal – we are responsible for
maturing in God's Wisdom and seeing to it that the Good News of His
mercy to sinners is given a voice, loud and clear. Therefore, “Let
your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’
Anything more is from the evil one.”
___________________Follow HancAquam or Subscribe -----> (Just eight more to reach 500!)
No comments:
Post a Comment