Jesus Raised the Bar

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you,
whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment;
and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin;
and whoever says, ‘You fool,’
will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
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,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

“You have heard that it was said,
You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin,
tear it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
And if your right hand causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one of your members
than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

“It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
But I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife -  unless the marriage is unlawful -
causes her to commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
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.
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,' and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’
Anything more is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5: 17-37)

Head of Christ by Rembrandt

We hear this Gospel and we go, “Whoooooa,” because, man, I’m in trouble. This Gospel is about me. Jesus is explaining what the commandments mean, and he is doing such an important thing in this preaching.

The people of Israel followed the law by the letter. But they did not let it enter their hearts. They were following the letter of the law. We can explain it this way. Think of a teen who has just gotten his driver’s license and now has the keys to the car. He thinks, “Whooee! Freedom!” Mom gives him the keys, and he hops in the car with his friend and, as he’s about to close the door, she calls after him, “Be home by 9 o’clock!” “OK,” he hollers back. Then he closes the door, revs up the motor, and says to his friend, “She didn’t say a.m. or p.m. I’ll be back by 9 o’clock for sure.”

That teen is worried about keeping the letter of the law and not about the spirit of the law. Technically he is correct, but only by the letter of what Mom said. Mom is interested in teaching the teen responsibility, how to be a responsible person. And all he is concerned about is how can I do what Mom says and still do what I want?

God tries to reorder our hearts. He is concerned about our hearts that are ripped apart by sin. We might be fulfilling the law. But where are our hearts? We tend to get trapped by our society that is so confident that Jesus wants us to just do what is good and it’s okay. It’s okay to break a couple of laws as long if you are really hurting anyone, never mind what the Bible says. People who say that have never read the Bible. They have never read these words that Jesus preached. I have people come to the sin bin and tell me, “Father, I’m not so bad. I never murdered anyone.” What type of measure of righteousness are we living by if the bar you measure your life by is murder? Jesus came to raise the bar.

I have to say that I am guilty of this for that sin in my life. The fifth commandment says, “Thou shall not kill.” Jesus raises the bar. Jesus says that anyone who is angry with his brother commits a sin against the fifth commandment. We don’t refrain from killing just to maintain life. We need to realize that human life is a gift from God, and we are all children of God. We do not degrade a child of God. We treat that person as God’s child, with love and respect.

The seventh commandment says. ”Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  Jesus raises the bar. He says that anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart. Jesus is saying, “Don’t even go there in your thoughts, in your hearts.” God made marriage so that we can experience unconditional love for another person. The marriage bond is a sign of the union between God and his Church. Marriage is a sacrament in which men and women can come to be like Christ for each other and for others. Marriage is more than just having children. Marriage helps us to know the love of God, the faithfulness of God, and who He is.

See, Jesus is making each of the commandments deeper. We need to understand the spirit behind the commandments as well as the letter of the commandments, the letter of the law. We need to fear hell. This is not a popular topic. We like to talk about entering the kingdom of heaven, and that is our goal. But we can exchange heaven for doing things our own way on earth. Christ is not going to force heaven on us. Hell is a reality. Not only those who kill are going to go to hell. At Fatima Our Lady showed the children a vision of hell, and people were falling into it like snowflakes into a fire. The Blessed Mother was weeping because of this. We need to take heed. We have nothing to fear, because God has a remedy for hell. If we are receiving the sacraments, Confession and Eucharist, these are the remedies to going to hell and to help us attain salvation.

What was the main sin of the scribes and Pharisees? They were keeping the law. They said, “Look at me. I am the keeper of the law. I do everything right.” The scribes and Pharisees were righteous. The Lord says to us that we cannot be prideful about keeping the law. Righteousness is not enough. He wants us not to be prideful. Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you cannot get to the kingdom of heaven.” Now how am I going to surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? They were keeping the law perfectly. But we need to surpass them. How? Are we doomed?

Not at all. We need to humble ourselves enough to say, “I know what the law is, and I still messed up. I need God’s mercy.” We need to get beyond the idea of the teenage Pharisee and follow after the Lord with an undivided heart. A few thoughts of a fiery hell can go a long way, not that God wants to intimidate us but that we understand that God is serious. Jesus is telling us how serious God is in these Gospel passages. Do I want to go to heaven? No one is above being damned to hell. Are we trying to follow God by our own version of the law? Or are we trying to follow the law that God gave us?

– Father Jacob Meyer, Visitor, Confraternity of Penitents