LENT I A

1^st Sunday of Lent A

Readings: Genesis 2:7‑9; 3:1‑7  Romans 5:12‑19  Matthew 4:1‑11

            As the Church begins its Lenten observance, we are presented with two radically different choices for human fulfillment.  In the Eden story, Adam and Eve choose to disobey God's command by eating from the tree of knowledge in an attempt to become "like gods who know what is good and what is bad."  In Matthew's temptation story, Jesus refuses to abuse his power for worldly gain and instead embraces God's will in trust, obedience, and adoration.  Let us begin Lent by accepting responsibility for our own sin and resolving with the help of God's mercy to begin again to follow the  obedient Jesus, as we pray in the words of the responsorial  psalm: "Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned" (Ps 51).

            The Eden account is the story of us all in so far as we are sinners.  Like ’adam ("earthling"), we are both "clay of the ground" and yet also inspired with the very "breath" of God.  We, like the man and woman in the garden, have been given the task of responsibly cultivating and caring for this beautiful earth within the limits set by God.  And yet we, also like Adam and Eve, all too often succumb to the allurement of "having it all" by striving to become "like gods who know what is good and what is bad."  We too attempt to play God in our selfish pursuit of unlimited sensual gratification ("the tree was good for food"), aesthetic stimulation ("pleasing to the eyes"), and intellectual pride ("desirable for gaining wisdom").  For Adam and Eve, sin results, not in superhuman knowledge, but in a shameful realization "that they were naked."  Later, when confronted with their sin, both will excuse their action by blaming either God or the serpent (see 3:8‑13).  We also discover that sin results in shame, fear, alienation and evasion of responsibility before God.

            Lest we be overwhelmed with the enormity of sin, Paul in the Romans reading affirms Christ's victory over sin and death.  In this section Paul is explicating how Jesus' death and resurrection could bring salvation for all humanity.  He uses a typology contrasting Adam, as the old head of the race, with Christ, the new Adam.  Just as the disobedient act of the one  man unleashed sin and death, like two demonic powers, into the  world and brought condemnation in that all fell into sin, so the obedient act of Christ, the new man, has brought the gift of  righteousness and grace.  “For if by the offense of the one man all died, much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound for all. . . . Just as through one man's disobedience all became sinners, so through one man's obedience all shall become just.”

            Matthew's temptation story also presents Jesus in humble obedience to his Father's will as he begins his ministry.  Like Adam and Eve in Eden and Israel in the wilderness, Jesus is tested as he is led into the desert by the Spirit.  But, in contrast to his ancestors' disobedience, Jesus, as true Son of God and the true Israel, triumphs over the devil's temptations.

            The temptations have to do with how Jesus will act as the  Son of God, as is clear from the devil's opening words: "If you  are the Son of God . . ."  In the first temptation the devil  suggests that as Son of God Jesus work a miracle for his  own physical sustenance.  Jesus has fasted for forty days and nights, and now the tempter proposes: "command these stones to turn into bread." Jesus rejects the devil's trick by quoting a passage from Deuteronomy 8:3 which suggests that he, as God's Son, must draw his sustenance from obedient trust of God's word: "Scripture has it: `Not on bread alone does man live but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God.'"  The devil then tries to twist Jesus' trust in God into presumption by suggesting that he throw himself from the parapet of the temple, for, according to Psalm 91, "(God) will bid his angels care for you . . ."   Quoting Deuteronomy again (6:16), Jesus retorts that true trust is obedient, not presumptive: "Scripture also has it: `You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"  Finally, abandoning all subtlety, the devil crassly offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world if he will prostrate himself in homage before him.  In his final response Jesus does not simply interpret Scripture (Deut 6:13) but also uses his power as God's obedient Son to drive Satan away. "Away with you Satan!  Scripture says, `You shall do homage to the Lord your God; him alone shall you adore.'" At the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus will come to cosmic power (see Matt 28:16-20) but only after walking the path of suffering as God's obedient Son. 

7TH Sunday A

7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Readings: Leviticus 19:1‑2, 17‑18  1 Corinthians 3:16‑23  Matthew  5:38‑48

            Today's readings challenge us with Jesus' two most radical ethical teachings: the command to demand no justice for injury and the command to love and pray for enemies.  As we struggle to be faithful to Jesus' revolutionary teaching, let us remember God's own mercy and pray in the words of our responsorial psalm: "The Lord is kind and merciful" (Ps 103:8a).

             The Lord's command to Moses in the first reading from Leviticus lays the foundation for Jesus' teaching about love of neighbor in the Sermon on the Mount.  First of all, the Lord commands Israel, "Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy."  The word "holy," qadosh in Hebrew, means "separate" or "other."   Israel is to be different from the other nations by imitating God's own love.  The Lord commands them: "You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. . . . Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Jesus simply radicalizes these teachings of the Torah by extending them even to the love of one's enemy. 

            In the second reading Paul continues his treatment of the problem of factionalism in the Corinthian church by reminding its members of their privileged status as "God’s temple" as the dwelling of God's Spirit.  He warns them that "God will destroy" anyone who "destroys God's temple" with a boastful factionalism rooted in claims to worldly wisdom.  The only way to  preserve the unity of "the temple" is for the Corinthians to give  up "their boasting about human beings" and embrace the folly of the cross by living the kind of radical love Jesus speaks about in today's gospel (see also 1 Corinthians 13).

            The Gospel completes Jesus' interpretation of his ancestors' Scriptures which began with last week's reading.  With the final two antitheses Jesus both overthrows and radicalizes commands in the Torah concerned with justice between "neighbors."  Originally, the law of retaliation ‑‑"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,"‑‑ was a good command because it put a limit on the human tendency to take unlimited revenge for an injury done to one's person or family (see Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21).  For Jesus' followers, however, a higher righteous is demanded‑‑ one that overturns the normal standards of all human justice systems.   When they have received an injury, Jesus' disciples are commanded not to seek the justice that a reasonable law would give them. "But what I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other as well.  If anyone wants to go to law over your tunic, hand him your coat as well. . . ." Only a few saints, who shared Jesus' vision of the "kingdom of heaven," have been able to follow this command.  Only when we have been remade by the grace of that kingdom will we be able to do the same.

The last of the antitheses radicalizes the love of the neighbor command from the Leviticus reading.  A popular interpretation of that command was to limit the term neighbor to one's fellow countryman and encourage hatred of foreign enemies. "You have heard the commandment, `You shall love your countryman but hate your enemy.'" Jesus rejects this narrow nationalistic reading and tells his followers: “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  The basis Jesus offers for this radical teaching is found in our first reading from Leviticus where God commands Israel: "Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy."   Jesus' revelation of God is that of a benevolent Father who is indiscriminate in his love.  To be children of such a Father is to imitate that unconditional love: “for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”  To only love those who love you is not to act as a true Israelite who has been grasped by God's kingdom, but is to behave like a tax collector or a pagan.“If you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?  Do not the pagans do the same?” Jesus' followers are commanded to imitate the perfection of God's indiscriminate love. “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

6th Sunday A

6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Readings: Sirach 15:15‑20  1 Corinthians 2:6‑10  Matthew 5:17‑37

            “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come, not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt 5:17).  In today's Gospel Matthew presents Jesus as the final interpreter of God's revelation in the law and the prophets.  Let us confidently commit ourselves to follow Jesus' commands by praying the refrain of our responsorial psalm: "Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!" (Ps 119:1b).

            In the first reading Sirach is arguing against those who hold for a determinism that said  humans have no free will and that God forces some people into sin (Sirach 15:11‑12).  Against this position which would undermine any sense of responsibility for one's actions, Sirach asserts that humans are free to choose either life or death:  “If you choose you can keep the commandments,/ they will save you . . ./ Before man are life and death,/ whichever he chooses shall be given him.”  Sirach concludes his exhortation by insisting that, although God's immense wisdom sees and understands all, "No one does he (God) command to act unjustly,/ to none does he give license to sin”.

            Our second reading from 1 Corinthians continues Paul's explication of the paradox of the cross of Christ.  His tone in this section is ironic and sarcastic.  Paul’s opponents at Corinth claim to have an elite status in the Christian community because of their superior "wisdom" which makes them spiritually “mature."  Paul uses their own language to ridicule their understanding of Christianity as belonging to "this age" which is "passing away."  The real "mysterious" and "hidden" wisdom of God is the cross of Christ which is completely incomprehensible to those who embrace Christianity out of a desire for worldly wisdom and status.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that this is a wisdom which "none of the rulers of this age knew for, if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory."

            For the next two Sundays the Gospel readings will be from  the section of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus  fulfills "the law and the prophets" by giving an authoritative  interpretation of six commandments in the Jewish Torah (Matt 5:17‑48). Each instance is introduced by slight variants of the same formula: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors. . . But I say to you . . .”   With God-like authority Jesus states the commands first spoken by God on Mount Sinai and then gives them their final meaning.  These six examples are meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive.  They give us a glimpse of how we are to live in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus warns his disciples that they are called to a higher righteousness than that of the legalistic scribes and Pharisees (Matt 5:20; see Matthew 23).

            Jesus fulfills the command against murder (Ex 20:13; Deut 5:17) by affirming it but then adding to its demands in a way which goes to the root cause of the sin. "But I say to you, who-ever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, `Raqa' ("empty‑headed"), will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, `You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna." For Jesus' followers, all acts of anger and abusive behavior toward human beings are equally serious.  Jesus then gives two parables as conclusions that follow from these demands.  First of all, reconciliation with the brother takes precedence over liturgical ritual.  "Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything 

 against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother . . ." Secondly, he urges his disciples to settle any judicial disputes before they come into the courts.   

            Likewise, Jesus affirms the command prohibiting adultery (Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18) and goes on to condemn the interior attitude which leads to the act. "But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." A woman's dignity is so sacred that it is not to be violated even by the lustful intentions of men.  The sayings about the "right eye" and "right hand" which follow are hyperboles which stress removing the cause of sin so as not to risk losing the whole of one's life in Gehenna (Hell).

            Jesus' interpretations of the commands allowing divorce and oaths actually overturn the old law.  Rather than allowing men to dismiss women with "a bill of divorce" for the slightest of reasons (see Deuteronomy 24), Jesus declares: ". . . whoever divorces his wife-- unless the marriage is unlawful-- causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."  In the context of the Judaism of Jesus and Matthew’s day, this command protected women's rights against the arbitrary actions of their husbands.  

Finally, Jesus' command prohibiting the use of oaths and vows which were allowed in Jewish law (see Ex 20:7; Lev 19:12; Num 30:3; Deut 23:22) is designed to protect the name of the all truthful God from being brought into our petty human affairs where we all too often lie and cheat.  We humans are not to imagine that God is at our beck and call to witness our oaths and vows.  Rather, we are to aim at truthfulness and honesty in our dealings with others. "But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. . . . Let your `Yes' mean `Yes,' and your `No' mean `No.' Anything more is from the evil one."     

5th Sunday A

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Readings: Isaiah 58:7‑10   1 Corinthians 2:1‑5   Matthew 5:13‑20

"You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world."  Jesus' challenge to his disciples in today's Gospel is also addressed to us who live in a culture that is as "flat" and "blind" as was the world of Jesus' own day.  As we struggle to be faithful to Jesus' commission, let us pray with confidence the refrain of this Sunday's responsorial psalm: "The just man is a light in darkness to the upright" (Ps 112:4a).

The Isaiah reading was spoken in the dark days immediately after the return of the Babylonian exiles to Jerusalem when they found their city and temple in ruins.  Instead of caring for the poor and homeless, many selfishly pursued their own business, while conducting meaningless fasts which the prophet describes in the lines preceding our reading.  “Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers,/ yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw” (Isa 58:3‑4).  In God's name, the prophet demands: “This, rather, is the fasting that I wish./ Release those bound unjustly,/ untie the thongs of the yoke,/ set free the oppressed,/ break every yoke./ Share your bread with the hungry,/ shelter the oppressed and the homeless;/ clothe the naked when you see them,/ and do not turn your back on your own” (Isa 58:6‑7). Only after Israel rectifies the injustices in its midst will it be healed and become a light for a darkened world (58:8). 

The second reading continues Paul's attack on the worldly factionalism among the Corinthians.  He reminds them that his initial preaching of the gospel was not done "with sublimity of words or wisdom."  Rather, he spoke only of "Jesus Christ, and him crucified."  As befits a message about a crucified Messiah, he came to them "in weakness and fear, and much trembling."  For Paul, the success of the Christian gospel does not depend upon the preacher's gift for "persuasive words of wisdom," like some worldly sophist, but on "a demonstration of Spirit and power" working through weak human instruments who reflect the message of the cross in their own lives.  The cross is God's "mysterious" and "hidden" wisdom which "the rulers of this age" cannot understand, as is proven by their crucifying "the Lord of glory." 

The Gospel continues last Sunday's reading which ended with the beatitude for those persecuted for the sake of the gospel (Matt 5:11‑12).  Now Jesus uses two striking metaphors to alert his disciples to the importance of their role in the world.  They are to be "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world."   Salt was important in Jesus' world as both a spice and a preservative.  Both qualities apply to the disciples' task.  They must both challenge the world with Jesus' teachings and preserve the deepest meaning of God's Torah (see Matthew 10, 18, 28).  But Jesus ends with a threat of judgment. “But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?  It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” 

Strictly speaking, salt cannot lose its taste, but in Judaism it can become unclean when tainted with too many impurities, and then it has to be thrown out.  The disciples are warned that, despite their call, they may lose all if they are unfaithful in time of persecution.  

The light image is based on the tradition in the first reading from Isaiah.  A traditional Jewish hope was that Israel and the city of Jerusalem would become "a light for the nations" by manifesting God's justice (see Isa 2:1‑5; 42:1‑9).  Notice that although the disciples' "good deeds" are to be like "a city set on a mountain top" and a light “set on a lamp stand where it gives light to all in the house," they are not to draw attention to themselves, but to bring the nations to God. “Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify

your heavenly Father” (Matt 5:16).