Gospel – Matthew 5:17-37    Love is the Key

The Sermon on the Mount continues and today’s Gospel starts with Jesus’ declaration that he has not come to ‘abolish the Law or the Prophets’ but to ‘fulfil’ them.  This is an important theme for Matthew.  It can be understood in different ways: Jesus is fulfilling, i.e. bringing about that which was promised by the Prophets and the Law, but also Jesus himself is the fulfillment.  He reveals and is the true and deeper meaning of the Law.  Later in the Gospel Jesus identifies love of God and of neighbor as the greatest commandment, saying ‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’ (Mt 22:40).

Today, we hear several teachings beginning with the formula, ‘You have heard that it was said … but I say to you …’.  Jesus is not contradicting the Law but strengthening and intensifying it.  Not only should we ‘not murder’ – as required by the Law – but we are also to avoid anger and insults, which are placed on the same spectrum.  Jesus is talking about more than our actions.  When we explore this teaching in the context of love, it involves everything from our inner attitude to the way we interact with others, in small situations as well as big.    Reconciliation and harmonious relationships are to take priority over worship.  In another example, the commandment to ‘not commit adultery’ reaches beyond outward faithfulness to our inner thoughts, what’s in our hearts.  Jesus’ talk of the tearing out of eyes and cutting off of limbs seems to shock his audience, and these words are doubly shocking to the modern listener.  We may be familiar with the commandments and rules of a life of faith, but have we engraved them in our hearts?  If love is at the heart of the law, we will do more than simply obey but endeavor to act with compassion, respect and self-giving.

© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2022.  A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Matthew.  (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2022).

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“True love is delicate and kind, full of gentle perception and understanding, full of beauty and grace, full of joy unutterable … With such a love one would see all things new; we would begin to see people as they really are, as God sees them.                                                 – Dorothy Day