Homily For Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 12th February, 2023

Readings: Eccles. 15:16-21; Ps. 119; 1Cor.2:6-10; Matt. 5:17-37

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

JESUS COMES NOT TO ABOLISHED THE LAW BUT TO COMPLETE AND FULFILL THEM

 

Today the sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, we are called to a deeper virtue towards fulfilling the commandments of God. Last Sunday, from the Sermon on the Mount we were told that, we are the light of the world, a light which radiates from Jesus who is the true light of the world. So we are one with Jesus the light of the world. Together we are called to bring new light and hope to the humanity.

 

Hence, every moment of our lives, without realizing it, we continue to be one with Jesus the light of the world. Little wonder this Sunday, Jesus calls us for a deeper relationship with him and with one another in a more righteous manner. Thus he says to his disciples in our Gospel reading today, “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. For unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

 

Why? Because Jesus expect more from his disciples. So when he say their righteousness should surpass that of the Pharisee, he meant that they should be right with God, they should be right with their brothers and sisters, and with the whole world. That is, we must strive to deepen our virtue towards righteous deeds. We must become agent of peace and reconciliation. We must be a symbol of God’s mercy and justice in a world full of corruption and greed.

 

No doubt, Jesus understood that salvation in the Old Testament came from the covenant that God had made with His people which the Pharisees hold in high esteem. But what Jesus is saying here is something just a little bit different. He says, “You will follow as I do. You will be people who will rely, not just in the law but in faith as well. That is, a faith in God, a faith in him, a faith in each other, and a faith that will move life closer towards the love of God and neighbours.

 

This is a call for a deeper virtue. It means that the Old Testament is now being fulfilled in the New Testament that calls for deeper love. Telling us that love is the beginning, love is the middle and love is the end of everything. Now we can understand the reason behind the teaching of Jesus concerning breaking the ten commandments as: killing, reconciliation, adultery, lying, swearing.

 

Here, Jesus emphasized that these commandments especially the second commandment which deals with using the name of God in vain,  also the fifth which has to do with respect for human life and the sixth commandment which has to  do  with the sanctity of the human relationship which forbids not only the acts of adultery and fornication but all appetites to them, all lusting after sexual object, for this is the beginning of the sin.

 

In fact,  the lust of conceiving it is a bad step towards the sin, for as far as the heart can do it, there is nothing but convenient opportunity for the sin itself to be carried out. So all approaches toward gratification of this sexual appetite such as: touching and feeding the eye with the sight of it where further satisfaction can be obtained is forbidden. Because such looks and behaviour are very dangerous and destructive to the soul and Jesus said that it is better to lose the eye and the hand than to give in to this sin, and perish eternally in hell.

 

Also, Jesus addressed the notion of divorce in marriage and it’s controversy, by referring us to the fundamental principle of marriage. Addressing the issue of divorce, Jesus said ‘It was because you were so unteachable that’s why Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife, except for unchastity, marries another, is guilty of adultery. And he who marries a divorced wife commits adultery. 

 

Here Jesus emphasized on the real intention of God about marriage and celibacy, that they are two forms of life that help us to value human sexuality as gift from God. He ruled out divorce by placing men and women on the same level; no longer could a man opt to divorce his wife. Today there are lots of problems in family due to lack of understanding of what marriage truly means.

 

It is quite interesting to realize that social, economic and political factors were major determinants that shape the youth’s present understand of marriage, as we see the youths giving importance to changing trends in marriage such as: single parent, inter-caste marriage, living in relationship or cohabitation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender marriages, etc. Hence, marriage for them is more of a social phenomenon than spiritual union and physical companionship. So this is part of what Jesus is addressing today

 

Hence, he speaks of "fulfilling" rather than "abolishing" the law and the prophets as we have it in our Gospel passage today and he added that: “the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.

 

Here, Jesus points out that keeping and teaching the commandments of God is the sure way of deepening our relationship with God not just here on earth but also in heaven. For In the Old Testament, we hear too much of the commanding tones: Thou shalt not do his, thou shalt not that. But Jesus is saying something quite different. We hear him saying: Blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who are meek, blessed are you who mourn, blessed are the peacemakers.

 

The fact is that, Jesus came to bring peace to the world, to restore the peace that God intended for all creation from the first day of creation when He said, “Let there be light” and there was light. Today that light is Jesus, from which all of us are called to ignite the world covered in darkness of sin and death. Little wonder in our first reading, we are made to know that if we wish, we can keep the commandments, because  to behave faithfully is within our power. For God has set fire and water before you; put out your hand to whichever you prefer. Man has life and death before him; whichever a man likes better will be given him.

 

And  St. Paul in our second reading said: we have a wisdom to offer those who have reached maturity: It is a wisdom that none of the masters of this age have ever known, or they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory; we teach what scripture calls: the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.

 

Hence we are called for a deeper relationship with God. We are called towards living out this virtue and not just preaching it, we are called to believe in it and living it out day by day in every way we can.

That is why the most important thing for Jesus is for us to be the light of the world, because God loves us and cares for us and He forgives us and will never let us perish. All he wants is for us to learn to love, to be compassionate and forgiven.

 

Dear friends, Jesus has not come to abolish the laws, but to complete and fulfilled them. So he demands a deeper relationship from us not like that of the Pharisees who display their piety before others. Because, so many of them did not truly have genuine faith and love for God. For they loved their laws and customs much more than God and their neighbour as we see in some people today. No, Jesus wants more from us, he wants us to know that the laws that God gave to us is meant to lead us to Him and not for us to stray from Him.

 

Therefore, it is time for us to turn once again to the Lord our God, with all our strength and gifts. It is time for us to truly live our lives with a renewed spirit of faith. We are called to deepen our relationship with God and to embrace His love with all sincerity in order to reciprocate that love to the world through loving our neighbours. By so doing the world may see clearly and live once again by faith in God and faith in each other especially in country where people are suffering.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we struggle everyday towards holiness and perfection, may we be guided by the Holy Spirit and strive to remain towards the path of righteousness and ever to go back to our sinful and ugly ways of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed Sunday celebration.