From: Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law (Continuation)
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Commentary:
43. The first part of this verse—”You shall love your neighbor”—is to be found in
Leviticus 19:18. The second part—”hate your enemy”—is not to be found in the
Law of Moses. However, Jesus’ words refer to a widespread rabbinical interpre-
tation which understood “neighbors” as meaning “Israelites”. Our Lord corrects
this misinterpretation of the Law: for Him everyone is our neighbor (cf. the parable
of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37).
43-47. This passage sums up the teaching which precedes it. Our Lord goes so
far as to say that a Christian has no personal enemies. His only enemy is evil
as such—sin—but not the sinner. Jesus Himself puts this into practice with those
who crucified Him, and He continues to act in the same way towards sinners
who rebel against Him and despise Him. Consequently, the saints have always
followed His example—like St. Stephen, the first martyr, who prayed for those
who were putting him to death. This is the apex of Christian perfection—to love,
and pray for, even those who persecute us and calumniate us. It is the distin-
guishing mark of the children of God.
46. “Tax collectors”: the Roman empire had no officials of its own for the
collection of taxes: in each country it used local people for this purpose. These
were free to engage agents (hence we find reference to “chief tax collectors”: cf.
Luke 19:2). The global amount of tax for each region was specified by the Roman
authorities; the tax collectors levied more than this amount, keeping the surplus
for themselves: this led them to act rather arbitrarily, which was why the people
hated them. In the case of the Jews, insult was added to injury by the fact that
the chosen people were being exploited by Gentiles.
48. Verse 48 is, in a sense, a summary of the teaching in this entire chapter,
including the Beatitudes. Strictly speaking, it is quite impossible for a created
being to be as perfect as God. What our Lord means here is that God’s own
perfection should be the model which every faithful Christian tries to follow,
even though he realizes that there is an infinite distance between himself and
his Creator. However, this does not reduce the force of this commandment; it
sheds more light on it. It is a difficult commandment to live up to, but along with
this we must take account of the enormous help grace gives us to go so far as
to tend towards divine perfection. Certainly, perfection which we should imitate
does not refer to the power and wisdom of God, which are totally beyond our
scope; here the context seems to refer primarily to love and mercy. Along the
same lines, St. Luke quotes these words of our Lord: “Be merciful, even as your
Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36; cf. note on Luke 6:20-49).
Clearly, the “universal call to holiness” is not a recommendation but a command-
ment of Jesus Christ.
“Your duty is to sanctify yourself. Yes, even you. Who thinks that this task is
only for priests and religious? To everyone, without exception, our Lord said: `Be
ye perfect, as My Heavenly Father is perfect’” ([Blessed] J. Escriva, “The Way”,
291). This teaching is sanctioned by chapter 5 of Vatican II’s Constitution “Lumen
Gentium”, where it says (40): “The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all
perfection, preached holiness of life (of which He is the author and maker) to each
and every one of His disciples without distinction:`You, therefore, must be perfect,
as your Heavenly Father is perfect’ [...]. It is therefore quite clear that all
Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and
to the perfection of love, and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fos-
tered also in earthly society.”
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
| First reading | 1 Kings 21:17 - 29 © |
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| Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Up! Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, in Samaria. You will find him in Naboth’s vineyard; he has gone down to take possession of it. You are to say this to him, “the Lord says this: You have committed murder; now you usurp as well. For this – and the Lord says this – in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your blood too.”’ Ahab said to Elijah, ‘So you have found me out, O my enemy!’ Elijah answered, ‘I have found you out. For your double dealing, and since you have done what is displeasing to the Lord, I will now bring disaster down on you; I will sweep away your descendants, and wipe out every male belonging to the family of Ahab, fettered or free in Israel. I will treat your House as I treated the House of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah, for provoking my anger and leading Israel into sin. (Against Jezebel the Lord spoke these words: The dogs will eat Jezebel in the Field of Jezreel.) Those of Ahab’s family who die in the city, the dogs will eat; and those who die in the open country, the birds of the air will eat.’ And indeed there never was anyone like Ahab for double dealing and for doing what is displeasing to the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the most abominable way, adhering to idols, just as the Amorites used to do whom the Lord had dispossessed for the sons of Israel. When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put sackcloth next his skin and fasted; he slept in the sackcloth; he walked with slow steps. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; I will bring the disaster down on his House in the days of his son.’ |
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| Psalm or canticle: Psalm 50 |
| Gospel | Matthew 5:43 - 48 © |
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| Jesus said, ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ | |