6th Sunday in ordinary Time
The readings for this Sunday remind us to follow God’s commandments with our heart’s minds and our souls. In the First Reading we are told that You can choose to keep the commandments and trust in God. God sees everything and gives you the choice between life and death, good and evil. In the Second Reading We share God’s hidden wisdom, planned for our glory, which the rulers did not understand. God’s prepared blessings for those who love him are revealed to us through the Spirit who knows everything. The gospel shows Jesus explaining the law. He does not remove it but calls us to live it fully. It is not enough to follow rules on the outside. We must also have love and goodness in our hearts. When he introduced the New Law of the Kingdom of God Jesus said something that was absolutely shocking to those heard what he told them that the holiness of the people had to surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees.
How could anyone be holier than the Pharisees who were supposed to be holy men”! They dressed well; they fasted said their prayers loudly for all to hear. But Jesus said that his followers had to be holier than the Pharisees. How could that be possible as they were the people that everyone held up as being good. Jesus explains, our external actions must reflect what we are really like. If what we do is not a reflection of who we are, then we are hypocrites. Hypocrite is the word that Jesus uses to describe the Pharisees. They were considered the righteous and holy ones who in truth were neither righteous nor holy in so many ways. Jesus’ challenge was not only to his followers, but to the Pharisees and scribes as well. Their religious faith was to go deeper than exterior works the right motives were supposed to support right behaviour. His demands are high indeed! They seem impossible to achieve. The Pharisee spent a lot of time and energy fulfilling the Law like so many people today the law was more important than compassion. They were of the middle class and unlike the desperately poor, who were most of Jesus’s followers, the Pharisees had the education and leisure to pursue purity of observance. What chance did the illiterate, overworked and burdened poor followers of Jesus have? For that matter, what chance do we have in fulfilling these teachings? And yet, Jesus calls for a holiness that surpasses those people who stuck by the letter of the law instead of the compassion of God! Jesus’ demands are more radical; his vision sharper; his expectations greater.
When we set our own record of doing good against the demands of Jesus in the Gospel, we can all come away feeling helpless. Our own efforts look so shabby against the clear unambiguous demands of the larger vision. May we be courageous in taking up the challenge that Jesus gives each one of us today that is the call to holiness living our lives so that people will see that we are faith filled people who live our lives with the compassion of God in our hearts. As we prepare for Lent, let us remember that God’s grace is always available to help us rise above our limitations. Through prayer, self-examination, and acts of charity, we are given the opportunity to draw closer to God and to one another. Let us approach this season of renewal with openness and humility, trusting that, with God’s help, we can grow in holiness and compassion, becoming true witnesses to his love in our world.
Fullerton T 