Keeping the Commandments and Unable to Enter the Kingdom of Heaven
Gospel: Matthew 5:17-37
Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionaries
In today’s Gospel, Jesus clarifies: “Do not think that I have come to annul the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to annul them but to fulfil them.” If he feels the need to clarify his position, it means that someone has had the impression that his behavior and words are demolishing the beliefs, expectations, and hopes of Israel based on sacred texts. Jesus was respectful of the laws and institutions of his people. However, he interpreted it in an original way. His point of reference was not the letter of the precept but the good of the person. For the love of persons, he did not hesitate to break even the Sabbath. The sayings of Jesus must be understood in this light. The Gospel puts forward four examples today. They are all introduced with the same stereotyped formula: “You have heard that God has said to the ancestors … now I tell you …”
Do not kill! (vv. 21-26)
Jesus teaches that the commandment that orders not to kill has so many implications that go well beyond the physical assault. One who uses offensive words, gets angry, harbors sentiments of hatred has already killed one’s brother/sister (v. 22). If there were X-rays capable of detecting the cemetery hidden in our hearts, we would be startled. Among the dead, we would find those whom we have sworn not to speak to, those to whom we have denied forgiveness, those we have continued to accuse of mistakes done, those whose good name we have destroyed by gossips or slanders, those whom we have deprived of love and the joy of living.
Murder always starts from the heart. It must be disarmed, or else it demonizes a human being. Before entering the temple, it was necessary for Jews to undergo painstaking purifications. Jesus declares that it is not the body that needs to be pure but the heart. Reconciliation with the brother/sister replaces all rites of purification.
After speaking of the commandment not to kill, Jesus goes to the issue of adultery The letter of the Torah seemed to prohibit only adulterous actions. Jesus instead goes to the heart and captures the deepest requirements of this commandment. There are friendships, feelings, relationships that are already adulterous. There are two members of the body that need to be amputated: the right eye and the right hand. In this context, they are the symbols of that which awakens lust (eyes) and dangerous contacts (hand). This is not an instruction for bodily mutilation but gruelling self-control which Paul speaks about: “I punish my body and control it, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be rejected” (1 Cor 9:27).
The third case concerns divorce (vv. 31-32). God wanted monogamous and indissoluble marriage. The Bible clearly states from the first pages: “The two form one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Because of the hardness of the human heart, divorce is introduced also in Israel. Going against the custom, traditions, and interpretations of the rabbis, Jesus brings marriage to its original purity and excludes the possibility of separating what God has determined to remain united. The clause “except for marital unfaithfulness,” which seems to leave open a possibility of divorce, actually concerns the illegitimate and irregular unions.
We do not remain faithful to the Lord when we conceal the demands of Christian morality in order to help someone in trouble. One should always remember that renunciation, sacrifice, and the heroism of virginity are doors to the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12). The clear words of Jesus, however, did not give any disciple license to judge, to condemn, to humiliate, to marginalize those who have failed in their married life.
The fourth case is that of the oath (vv. 33-37).
During the exile in Babylon, the Israelites had assimilated among other bad habits that of swearing inappropriately. To avoid pronouncing the name of God they resorted to the less demanding formula: they swore by heaven, by the temple, by the earth, by their parents, by their heads. A sage of the second century B.C. recommended: “Do not get used to swearing, taking the name of the Holy One” (Sir 23:9).
Jesus takes a stand against this reckless habit and he does it with his usual radicalism. “Do not swear at all … But let your speech be ‘Yes’ when it is ‘yes,’ ‘No’ when it is ‘no,’ the rest comes from the evil one” (vv. 33-37). It was not so much the desecration of the name of the Lord that worried him. There are other elements that make an oath unacceptable. First of all, it assumes a pagan concept of God who is imagined as an avenger, ready to hurl his thunderbolts against liars and perjurers. Then, it is a symptom of a society that is dominated by mistrust, disloyalty, and mutual suspicion. In the community of the disciples of Jesus, the oath is inconceivable.
Indebted to Fr. Fernando Armellini for textual analysis
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