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." (Matthew 25: 20 –
26)
Today’s Gospel is one where we really see how
difficult it is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
Jesus has raised the measurement of our love for one another for
sure. As I read it over this morning I was
struck by the magnitude of what Jesus is asking of us. If we take Jesus’ words literally then we are
faced with the reality that Jesus is calling us to a complete
transformation. Jesus wants us to not
just go through the motions of showing our love, he wants it to be real and
genuine. It is a task that becomes easier
with God’s love for us. It’s a simple yet radical
way to live.
Pat Schifini, OSU
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment