Ordinary Time

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

A life of holiness is patterned after the holiness of God. It requires integrity, honesty, and faithfulness. To be holy as God is holy, we must refrain from nursing hatred in our hearts; we must rebuke wrongdoers or we will share their guilt; we must not entertain vengeance; and we must love others as we love ourselves. These very demanding directives give us a glimpse into the holiness of God. Furthermore, they are all communal in nature. In other words, our likeness to God is determined by the way we relate to others.

For Paul, the temple is the collection of people who gather in God’s name. Just as the presence of God made the Jerusalem temple holy, so the Spirit’s presence in the people makes this new temple holy. Paul returns to an earlier discussion about the wisdom of this world (see last Sunday’s second reading). As valuable as human insight might be, it is nothing compared with God’s wisdom. Boasting refers to the false pride that the Corinthians took in identifying with various religious leaders. Such boasting is evidence of the wisdom of the world, a wisdom that threatened the unity of the Corinthian community.

Jesus addresses the way that disciples are to interact in any strained relationships. He instructs his disciples to offer no resistance when someone tries to take advantage of them. He employs Near Eastern exaggeration to make his point. The disciples are told to disarm others with their willingness to go beyond what is required of them. Jesus then reinterprets the law of love in a most radical manner, telling his disciples that they must love their enemies. He insists that the disciples’ love must be patterned after God’s love, which is given unquestioningly to the just and the unjust alike. The final exhortation succinctly sets the standard for life in the kingdom of heaven. “[B]e perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It is this standard that makes Jesus’ interpretation of the law so radical.

Jan 14 2025

Blessed Are They Who Walk in the Law of the Lord

We live in a country where we prize our freedom, cling to our right to choose, and even define our homeland as “the land of the free.” Today’s scriptures remind us that along with rights come responsibilities. We are to respond to our God who made us and calls us to be a people of the new covenant, ratified by the saving death of God’s Son on the cross.

“If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you,” says Ben Sira (Sirach 15:15). For the Jewish people the law was a blessing and those who chose to keep the law would be blessed with life. That choice is still before us today.

Jesus’ teachings reveal his wisdom in understanding the law of the Mosaic covenant. His grasp of what was at the heart of the law can be clearly found in the long form of today’s Gospel. While there is an option for a shorter version, spend some time with the longer reading (Matthew 5:17–37).

We are to live as kin in what has been called the “kin-dom” of God. In a world that justifies preventative strikes, Jesus forbids not only killing but even getting angry and bearing a grudge. He teaches that reconciliation takes priority over worship, that the prohibition against adultery extends even to looking with lust at another, reducing a person to an object for self-gratification. Finally, he asks us not to swear but to speak with simplicity and integrity.

Some might dismiss all this as impossible to achieve. But, as a young virgin was once told: “[N]othing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1:37).

Consider/Discuss

How does the “law of the Lord” influence my life?
Do I consider God’s law as increasing or limiting my freedom?
Can I accept the “bottom line” that Jesus is asking of his disciples?

Responding to the Word

We can pray for the Holy Spirit to open our minds to understand what is at the heart of Jesus’ teachings, and that we both discern what God asks of us and respond wholeheartedly. Thus we witness to others what it means to walk in the law of the Lord.

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

The legitimacy of the instruction from Sirach is grounded in the theology of retribution, which maintains that wise or righteous living will result in happiness or blessing, and foolish or depraved living will meet with misfortune or punishment. Today’s reading addresses human freedom and human choice. The eyes of God look on the righteous with pleasure, just as the righteous look to God in fidelity. Although it is God’s desire that all will live in conformity to the order established, God has predestined no one to sin or to blessedness. All have been given freedom of choice. It is up to us to use it wisely.

Paul contrasts the wisdom of the gospel with the wisdom of this age. The plan of God was hidden in the past, but is clearly revealed in the present. The mature are those who have entered into the dying and rising of Christ by accepting the wisdom of the gospel. Everything hinges on the essential mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul maintains that if the rulers of this world had known that the glory of God resided in the man Jesus, they would not have crucified him. However, they should have known, because Jesus did not keep this secret.

Although Jesus’ teaching was based on the common tradition of Israel, his interpretations were so unprecedented that some accused him of having rejected that tradition. Jesus insists that his interpretations really offer the fuller meaning of the tradition. The contrast that Jesus sets up is not between himself and the law, but between his interpretation of the law and that of the scribes and Pharisees. He criticizes them for insisting on the minutiae of the law at the expense of the righteousness that is at its heart. Jesus demands much more than mere external conformity. Whether it is harmony in the community, fidelity in marriage, or faithfulness to one’s word, Jesus calls for radical commitment.

Jan 14 2025

A Little Salt, a Little Light, a Lotta Difference

One of the most common advertising strategies is showing what you can look like after you purchase a certain product or follow a particular program: a more pleasing shape, greater muscle definition, blemish-free skin, silkier hair, and so on. Jesus today offers two images to his disciples, salt and light, indicating what they can be if they follow his teachings. In both instances the benefits go to others.

Salt was important in Jesus’ time for preserving meat and for bringing out the taste of food. Its usefulness depends on its interacting with something else. When it doesn’t interact, it is useless. So, too, if a follower does not live in the world as a child of the kingdom, the world will be bland.

And not only that, but also blind, unable to glimpse God’s presence here and now. The disciples must show themselves to the world as followers of Jesus, rooted like him in the law and the prophets. With so much darkness due to hatred, cruelty, and greed, the disciple who shares bread with the hungry, helps shelter the homeless, clothes the naked, and does not live indifferent to the needs of others, will truly be salt and light.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to hear the Sermon on the Mount, a compilation of teachings that Matthew has collected to give us the program we are to follow so that the world may catch a glimpse now and again of the reign of God.

Consider/Discuss

Do you see ways in which you can bring savor and light to the world?
Do you recognize that Jesus is calling the church as a community of believers to dispel the darkness and gloom?

Responding to the Word

Pray that God will help you to recognize the gifts given to you and your community for the good of others. We also ask God to give us the humility not to feel threatened by the gifts of others, but to rejoice in them and encourage their use.

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

Today’s passage from Isaiah maps out the kind of behavior required if one is to enjoy the blessing of the covenant. It proclaims ethical mandates, not religious practices. Communion with God is dependent upon the fulfillment of social responsibility. The blessing that follows such a life is frequently described as some form of light. Light can be a symbol of deliverance, of prosperity, of truth, or of God’s favor. It is associated with life and all of the good things that come with it. Because its meaning here is not explicitly stated, the reference to life can include all of the richness of the symbol.

Paul reminds the Corinthians of their lowly status in society. This lowliness enabled the power and glory of God to shine forth unimpeded through them. He applies this to his own manner of ministry. He insists that there is nothing extraordinary about him, but that will not hamper the spread of the gospel. Quite the contrary; Paul’s ministerial approach was humble and unassuming because he did not want his manner of delivery to get in the way of the dynamism of the gospel. He wanted the faith of the community to be grounded in God and not in the cleverness of a preacher.

Jesus employs two metaphors to characterize the essence of discipleship. First, salt is both essential for life itself and valuable for preserving, seasoning, and purifying food. Its value is in its effect on something else. Applied to disciples, they too are valuable to the extent that they influence others. Second, the disciples are a light that shines forth in the darkness of ignorance or faithlessness, like a city on a mountain or a lamp on a stand in a house. They enlighten others not by words but by their manner of living, a manner of living that declares to the world that the reign of God has indeed been established in their midst, and the age of fulfillment has dawned.