Today’s Gospel continues and develops the talk of light that we heard last Sunday. In Christ, Christians, his followers, are called to become what they are: the light of the world. Now, a fundamental aspect of this identity-vocation to be light is exposed: the perfect fulfillment, like Christ, of the divine Law for a “higher righteousness” before God. Here, in order not to fall into the usual moralistic, or even worse, legalistic-casuistic interpretation of Jesus’ saving words, we need to keep in mind the totality of God’s and Christ’s teaching in the Scriptures, and above all, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us in our brief reflection, so that we may welcome into Jesus’ discourse not the “dead letters,” but that of his true spirit that gives abundant life in God.
First of all, it should be remembered that in the Bible, the commandments of the Torah, that is, the whole of God’s Law, are praised as God’s perfect gift to refresh the soul and enlighten the eyes (cf. Ps. 19:8-9 [18B:1-3]). Therefore, the divine Torah is regarded as God’s light and wisdom for the salvation of the world (cf. Wis 18:4: “[through God’s children] the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.”). In such a perspective, the important aspect of the Servant of God’s mission will also be to bring to the distant islands the divine light, understood as the authentic teaching of God who saves (cf. Is 42:6-7; 49:6).
What is recalled helps us understand Jesus’ apologetic insistence on his faithful fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” To use a play on words, Jesus is “Light from Light” who is God, and not Light separately or differently from Light!
In this view, if the Torah is already the light of God, it now reaches its full splendor in Jesus Christ who, in word and deed, gives fulfillment to all that God had given to his people through Moses on Mount Sinai. This is the intrinsic aspect of Christ’s mission, as it is declared in the formula: “I have come for....” He, God made Man, is the new Lawgiver on the new mountain, that of the new covenant (let us remember the solemn context of this Sermon on the Mount!). We must therefore, on the one hand, always thank God for the gift of the Law-and-the-Prophets, understood - I repeat - as the totality of divine teaching in the Old Testament, and then scrutinize it in order to observe it and pass it on with fidelity and reverence; on the other hand, we must always look to Christ to see and follow the genuine splendor of divine Law. As Christ, the Word of God, is the only revealer or literal “exegete” of God the Father according to what is stated in Jn. 1:18 (“No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed Him.”), so He will henceforth be the only authentic interpreter of the precepts God has given to His faithful.
As the authentic interpreter of the divine Law, Jesus now indicates with authority what will be the true and faithful fulfillment of God’s precepts transmitted from “ancient” times. And he does so with a series of antitheses: “It was said...” and “but I say to you.” Indeed, the intention here is not to abolish, but to fulfill, and even to perfection (!), for “You [God] have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept” (Ps. 119; responsorial psalm). And the perfect fulfillment of the precepts will be that in the spirit of the Preceptor and Lawgiver, and not according to the letter and human explanations. Thus, specifically, the commandment not to kill also warns against “murderous attitudes” of hatred or contempt in words and in the depths of the heart. The same thing applies to “do not commit adultery,” which is meant to ask us to be vigilant already about the intention that will lead to the act.
By the way, it should be emphasized that, even in Christ’s words, one must follow not “dead letters,” but the spirit of the teaching that He gave often in the picturesque and hyperbolic manner peculiar to the master-teachers of Israel. Therefore, when Jesus teaches that “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away” and “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away,” He surely does not recommend a certain self-mutilation of the body, but rather a determination to have no compromise with the scandalous occasion of adultery. Jesus’ drastic words serve as an effective provocation to shake the mind and make people think about the true observance of the divine commandments. And for all cases, it takes intelligence and enlightenment to understand and observe the spirit of God’s teaching in Christ. That is, one must always ask with humility, “Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.” (Ps. 119; responsorial psalm)
Christ’s cordial invitation to his disciples, then, is to have a “justice/righteousness” that “surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees.” For clarity, the term “justice/righteousness” here is to be understood in the sense of “right attitude” toward God. It will have to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees because it will be linked to the authentic fulfillment of God’s Law precisely according to the spirit revealed by Jesus and not according to the understanding of men, however pious they may be. Therefore, “higher righteousness” for entering the kingdom of heaven is not about a more detailed observance of divine precepts, even more detailed that is, than that of the scribes and Pharisees. Rather, it is about becoming more and more converted to Christ in order to accept and follow Him, the wisdom of God, in fulfilling and putting into practice the divine Law in the practicalities of life. St. Paul reminds us precisely of this “God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for, if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. 2:7-8; second reading).
So let us renew our following of Christ who alone has the word of life for His disciples. Let us follow Him, who is our Light, to have the light of divine life in us. By putting His teaching into practice and by His grace, we can carry on the identity-mission of “salt” and “light” in a world that seems very much conditioned by the mystery of evil. It will be our life to speak the Gospel of Christ even if in the midst of a thousand difficulties. And for this arduous mission, let us hear again the words of Pope Francis in his Message for World Mission Day 2023: “Today more than ever, our human family, wounded by so many situations of injustice, so many divisions and wars, is in need of the Good News of peace and salvation in Christ.” And let us always keep in mind God’s own exhortation to his faithful through St. Paul: “God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life.” (Phil 2:13-16a).
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