The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time
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Sirach 15:15-20
The reading today comes from a section on Free Will and Responsibility covering 15:11 – 16:23.
Because we have free will, we can’t blame our sin on God. That’s Sirach’s message: our sin is our own. But we could also turn it around: because we have free will, we are capable of change: being changed, changing ourselves, and changing the world around us.
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
For this bit of Ordinary Time, we’ll be in Part I of this letter: Divisions in the Community 1:10-4:21. This particular passage is True Wisdom and the Language of Love 2:6 – 3:4.
The Sirach reading is Wisdom literature, and we might look on it as a childlike or even childish sort of wisdom. As children, we learn the rules and we (mostly) keep to them. Punishment motivates our behavior far more than anything else. As we mature, our motivations should mature along with us. Paul tells us that the Spirit and love begin to motivate us and call us to a deeper standard of living. How do we live something as challenging as the Beatitudes or as demanding as today’s Gospel reading? The wisdom of love:
What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him,
this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
Matthew 5:17-37
This reading continues a verse by verse exploration of chapter 5 – instructions on how to be disciples.
Sometimes we’re tempted to ask, “what’s the least I can do?” Jesus opens up new dimensions to this question. He says it’s not about outward observances but rather inner disposition. The Mosaic law was a bare minimum: the least one could do. Jesus came to bring life and bring it abundantly. He wants to give us far more than the bare minimum, and he asks in return far more than the least we can do.
Verses 17-18 tell us that the whole of the Old Testament has value for Christians and should continue to be preserved, prayed, studied and preached. This is why we preserve the Old Testament readings in our liturgy.
Verse 21 begins with the commandment against murder, which was a primary law. Of course, his audience would have heard and known it! The cultural meaning was more like, “You thought it meant only this, but it actually means also this…”
In the ancient world, name-calling could be a legal offense because names held much more weight in that culture. In verse 22, Jesus says you shall not murder, but it also means you shall not put yourself in a situation where a flaring temper would cause you to want to act out of anger. He shifts the emphasis from the act of murder to the emotional prelude to murder, which is anger. Anger calls attention to the fact that something is wrong. Its job is to move us to action to remedy the situation. If anger stays, it becomes less about justice and more about revenge. Murder is not a temptation for most of us, but anger…. Well, now that’s probably something that hits closer to home.
Verse 27 takes up the issue of adultery. Once again, Jesus shifts from the bare minimum – the letter of the law and not committing adultery – to something much more demanding: the intention with which we approach other people.
Verse 29 is a hyperbolic or rhetorical overstatement: do whatever is necessary to avoid sin. Jesus’ Semitic culture understood this type of language. Matthew and Mark both retain this construct for their Jewish audiences. Luke leaves it out – the Greek mind of his Gentile audience is less able to appreciate this way of making a point.
Verse 31 begins another pondering, this on the very contentious issue of divorce. It’s important to look at the cultural context here first and foremost.
A woman had to have a certificate of divorce in order for a remarriage to be valid. If she was not properly divorced from her husband, then she and the new husband could not legally be married and, if they lived together, she was committing adultery. An adulterous woman was, in principle, punished by stoning. If a man divorced his wife but did not leave her free to remarry, she became a non-entity with no legal rights. She would basically be consigned to death unless her family took her back in, which many would not. If she found someone to marry her, she would be an adulteress, which also condemned her to death. Because a woman had no legal say, this verse is addressed to the men, and it tells them to preserve the sanctity of the marriage in order to protect the woman.
As he does everywhere, Jesus sets a high ideal. Can all of us live up to all of it all the time? No. Does Jesus us love us any more when we do live up to it, or any less when we don’t? No. This is not about keeping together what is beyond repair, but about protecting those who have no way to protect themselves. We could very well argue that our modern world is a different context with different questions. This would open up new perspectives on what Jesus might teach today.
Verse 33 takes up the issue of oaths, which were very important in ancient cultures. Jews went to great lengths not to say the name of God. So they would swear on other things. This created a convenient loophole by which they could come back later and claim their oath was not binding because they did not swear by God. Jesus says this doesn’t work because everything belongs to God. Swearing oaths by different things and then creating a system that allows people to back out creates a culture in which trust cannot thrive. Jesus argues for a simplicity and directness of speech that fosters trust and relationships.
Where are you satisfied with the bare minimum or close to it? How is God calling you to a deeper discipleship?
Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
© 2023 Kelly Sollinger