IN THE NEW COVENANT

June 9, Wednesday

Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

 

      Paul, defending his ministry against Jewish converts who insist on their prerogatives, states that the new covenant is superior to the old one as the life-giving Spirit is superior to the death-bringing law.

      Jesus says something similar in words that at first sight seem to say the opposite: he has come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, that is, to give it deeper dimensions. What matters for us especially is that we must be aware that we live under the new law of love and that we are guided by the liberating Holy Spirit from servitude to the law.

           

First Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

We couldn’t be more sure of ourselves in this—that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation. We wouldn’t think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter. His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn’t written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It’s written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!

The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses’ face, as he delivered the tablets, was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun. How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?

If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation? Bright as that old government was, it would look downright dull alongside this new one. If that makeshift arrangement impressed us, how much more this brightly shining government installed for eternity?

 

Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19

“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.

“Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.

 

Prayer

Lord our God,

you have taken the initiative of loving us
and bringing us your freedom
through your Son Jesus Christ.
Enrich us with the Spirit of Jesus,
pour him out generously, without measure,
that we may no longer hide
behind traditions and the letter of the law,
to extinguish the Spirit of freedom. 
Let him enlarge our hearts
and stimulate our fantasy
to discover love’s numerous ways
to fulfill the law to perfection.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Natural development

The gospel of Matthew is primarily written for the converts from the Jewish background. Although they accepted the faith in Jesus and became part of the community, it was not easy for them to give up their Jewish background and traditions. Hence, we find both Paul and Matthew go out of their way to assure the Jewish converts that Christianity is not a rejection of Judaism but rather, its natural development.
So, in today’s passage which continues the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus solemnly assures his readers, that he has not come to terminate the Law but to bring it to a higher level. To give a rough example, it is like the upgrading of a computer by increasing its memory. It is still the same computer doing the same things, only better and faster. The vision of Jesus helps us to see the Law in a new light. He is not saying that every single precept of the Law has to be literally observed but rather follow the spirit behind those laws.
In our Church, too, we need to be ready to move forward to new ways of understanding our faith and living it out. The traditions of the past are still valid but we must never get bogged down in them to the extent that we do not respond to the clear signs of the times. Traditions can be understood in two ways: either as a fundamental belief that existed from the very beginning or simply a way of doing or understanding things which has been around for a long time.
Christians, too, can become obsessed with external observance of Church laws and regulations. It can become a source of scrupulosity and fear. For example, we find so many people are so much worried about the rubrics of the Divine Worship to the extent that they are on the watch out for anyone who deviates from the rubrics. We find heated arguments on social media, discussing how many candles to be lit on the altar, how many times shall the bell be rung, should we or should we not extent our hands while praying the Lord’s prayer, whether to receive the communion in hand or on the tongue, kneeling or standing, what should be the colour of the shoes of the altar servers … the list goes on and on. We need to remember that these acts do not stand on their own and only have meaning if they deepen our relationship with God. In all things, our ultimate guide must be the law of love. A truly loving act can ever be sinful, although at times it may violate the letter of a law.

Video available on Youtube: Natural development