Often, in our Sunday readings from
Scripture, we hear a story or a parable or an image that really strikes us,
that captures our imagination, that perhaps touches our heart. Last Sunday, Jesus told his
disciples: You are the salt of the earth.
You are the light of world. Those
images are rich and concrete and appeal to our imagination; they speak to us on many different levels. Yet - today we have the opposite situation. Today is one of those Sunday’s where
we are struck with some very complex readings that are not warm and fuzzy. They deal with a complex subject that is not
easy to wrap our minds around.
Think of something simple and
commonplace that we do every time we worship together as Catholics. During each weekend mass, we have a
procession in the beginning of mass, we have the entrance of the assembly. We often think of the procession as the
faithful in the pews rising from their seats and singing an entrance hymn as
the priests, servers, and lector process down the center aisle into the
sanctuary. But what if see the procession as
being something much larger than this? What if we see the procession as all
of you in the pews getting up on Sunday morning and getting reading to come to
church? Sometimes our mornings are
hectic and stressful, sometimes they are calm and comforting. We have breakfast in the morning, we
get dressed. Some of us may sit in
silence or pray or look over the Sunday Scripture readings in order to get
ready for the mass mentally and spiritually. Then we come in our cars from all
parts of the city, even from different towns and counties surrounding
Tupelo, making our way to the church. Do we see ourselves in procession to
church as we leave our homes and get ready? Do we see ourselves in procession to
the church when someone cuts us off in traffic or when someone is rude to us or when we are having a bad day?
As we think about that, let’s look
at the refrain in today’s psalm: Blessed are those who follow the law of the
Lord. That sounds so simple doesn’t
it? As followers of Christ, we know
that we want to follow God’s law, but we know that it is not simple,
don’t we? We learn God’s law, we start
following it by the way we initially understand the law, and as we grow in
faith, our understanding of the law penetrates our hearts. I think about my time in
seminary. I pride myself in being a good
student, and I can honestly say that in seminary, I gave it my best shot, and I
did very well academically and in the formation process. Yet, I can remember the very first
Sunday mass I did on my own, a Sunday morning mass at the large parish of St
Richard in Jackson. After I processed
into the church, took my place at the presider’s chair, and saw about 500 faces
looking back at me, I started to panic.
I thought: How did I think I could do this? I got through that mass just fine. However, I continue to grow in my understanding
of the mass and grow in my love of the mass Sunday after Sunday as I continue
my journey of faith as a priest. As I celebrate the mass almost every day as a priest, it continues to penetrate my heart in different ways. And that how it is with God’s law:
as we journey in faith, we are called to grow in our love and understanding of
his law.
In the Gospel, Jesus doesn’t throw out the law, but rather brings nuance
and fullness to it. He speaks out in opposition to a
strict legalistic interpretation not only of the law, but also of how we understand God operating in our lives. The Pharisees knew about God’s laws
against things like adultery, murder, and false witness, they knew the letter of the law, but they created
clever interpretations and loopholes which kept these laws from penetrating and
converting their hearts. Jesus calls us to a new life in him each day - not just one time in the waters of baptism - but a new life that is renewed in us each day in which God's law continues to change our hearts. Jesus envisions a world where we
start proclaiming God’s kingdom in the here and now, in which we love our
neighbor and reach out to our enemy, in which we work toward strong marriages
and stable families, in which joy and peace are proclaimed to all. Jesus calls us to strive toward
perfection under God’s law as we journey in faith each day. Jesus proclaims that he has come to
fulfill his Father’s law, knowing of the salvation and redemption we will
achieve through his death and resurrection. We are called to grow in our
understanding of God’s law, to allow it to penetrate our hearts, to be blessed
by God's law under which we live out our faith.
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