Wednesday, III Lent
(Mt 5)
When was the last time you ate a ham sandwich or enjoyed bacon and eggs? Did you feel guilty at the time? Of course, you were breaking a tenet of the Mosaic Law? Jesus seems to be saying in the gospel passage today that the Mosaic Law still is in effect. Should we start revising our menus?
Of course, that is not necessary. But we must reflect on what Jesus means when he tells us, “Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter, not the smallest part of a letter of the law will pass away, until all things have taken place.” Perhaps he is using exaggerated language that he does not mean literally as when he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out”? Or perhaps he intends these words only for the Twelve, all Jews, who were quite used to keeping the Law?
There is another, more logical explanation why the Church does not keep the Mosaic Law. As Jesus says will happen, “heaven and earth (have) pass(ed) away” with his death and resurrection. All things have now been made new. We have been given the Holy Spirit to live a new righteousness that should surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. Is this the case? It is when we find ourselves not acting just to conform ourselves with a law, i.e., not just out of fear of being punished. It is when we do what is right out of love for God who has given us everything.
