A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 5:20-26)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into 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 with him.
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.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Reflection:
One thing that irritates most people is dealing with someone who has double standards. You know the type. All of us have dealt with such personality. The one person who has a set of rules for the rest of the world, but finds all kinds of reasons not to hold himself or herself (or those in his circle of friends and family) accountable to the same rule. Why would we think that God is any different?
Every day we pray, we beg God to forgive our sins. We do so even as we pray “The Our Father”. It is our expectation that God, in his infinite love for us, will forgive us always. We hold God to that standard.
However, we are really quick to find reasons to, at the very least, excuse our apathy to the needs and suffering of others or to, at worse, support our distain and prejudices for others. We hold and tightly to grievances- weather real or imagined- for no other reason than because they define us as victims.
God is telling us that he won’t stand for this double standard of ours. At the end of our lives, when we stand in judgment, He will not forgive or forget any sin, no matter how trivial they seem to us now. He will hold everyone to the same standard, to the same expectations. We must love everyone with the same self-giving love, the same spirit of true service, the same solidarity for the needy that He offered us then and continue to offer us even now.
Today God is telling us that since we expect him to love us and accept us into his kingdom (and not be thrown into Gehena until all our sins are paid for), that we must live our lives under the same expectation with our relationship with others. It is just that simple: A reciprocal expectation to apply the same set of rules for everyone.
Action of the Day
Jesus is telling us that our moral virtues must be far better than any other earthly authority. Our moral compass should only be oriented by that of God. Whose morals are guiding your life?
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