VII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 5:38-48
On top of the mount, as the new Moses, surrounded by his disciples, Jesus presents the Law of the New Covenant. As Jesus would say on another occasion, “new wine is put into fresh wineskins” (Mt 9:17). Jesus did not abolish the law of the Old Testament, but built upon it giving a more radical expression to its commandments. In the book of Leviticus - the middle book in the Torah (Pentateuch) - God presents his most radical demand: “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Lev 19:2). We may say that this is the greatest commandment and the basis of all other commandments. What does it mean this call to holiness? How can we be holy as God is holy? Is it not beyond our human capability? We must remember that God created us in his image and that image implies his holiness. That holiness must be reflected in our lives, in what we are and in the way we behave.
According to the book of Leviticus, the demand for holiness is the foundation of a human society that manifests the image of God:
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Lev 19:17-18)
In the holiness expected from us, there is no place for hatred and vengeance and we are called to love our neighbour as ourselves. Holiness implies a commitment to build a society that has love as its foundation. I must work for the well-being of others; it is then that we worship the true God. Jesus makes these fundamental demands even more explicit: He forbids all vengeance and any kind of violence against others. Better to do as he did: he preferred to suffer violence at the hands of his enemies and, then, asked the Father to forgive them. To the old commandment - “be holy for I am holy”, Jesus gives a new formulation: “be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” And this perfection manifests itself in his boundless love. He cares for all: “he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good”. So he expects the same behaviour from his children. To hatred they must respond with love: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way, you will be sons of your Father in heaven”.
Is it possible to behave like that? On our own, only with our human strength, we will never be able to pursue this hard road. However, God dwells in us, filling us with his Spirit, who guides and strengthens us. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote: “Didn’t you realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? “ (1 Co 3:16). Let us ask the Holy Spirit who dwells in us to guide and strengthen us to walk always on the way that leads us to perfection and holiness.
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