Sermon on the Mount Part II

02-16-2020Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

Jesus tells in today's gospel: I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." This is the time of New Dispensation. Righteousness is not legalism. The word 'righteousness' could be translated as justice, uprightness, virtue, perfection. Matthew is constantly proposing a new and deeper meaning of righteousness. It is not mere conformity to law, but a response to the plan of God. Let us consider just a few examples in the Gospel of Matthew to illustrate the meaning of righteousness which will serve to help us even understand the whole of the Gospel(s).

Today's Gospel which is part of the Sermon on the Mount sets forth among other things basic principles of Christian conduct, namely to observe the spirit of the law. He states that he has not come to abolish the Law found in the Old Testament but to fulfill it. That law was understood as an expression of God's will for his people, but written in human terms.

Jesus, not only does he ask us to follow God's commandments; he also asks us to teach others to do the same. He says that whoever breaks one of the least of the commandments of God and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But, whoever obeys and teaches the commandments will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, Jesus is asking us to not only obey God's commands, but to teach others to obey them as well. Now, when we hear this command of Jesus to teach others, we should not imagine that Christ is asking us to obtain a theological degree or become a classroom catechist.

We are to teach others to obey God's commands by the example of our lives. We are always teaching by the way that we live. Either teaching people to follow God's commandments or teaching them to break them. We are either showing the people in our family, at work, at school, in our neighborhood how to live well, or how to make our lives a disaster.

Today, then, it is appropriate to be thankful for the people in our lives whose love has taught us how to live well. It is also right to re-double our own efforts to be the best example we can be to others. Because if we obey the commandments of God and teach others how to obey them, we will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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