Friends, if you are like me, when you hear the word "gift" you think of a box that has been wrapped with colorful wrapping paper and a bow on top. In today's Gospel (Mt 5: 20-26) yet again Jesus causes us to rethink some of the fundamentals in our life but for our benefit, not His.
In today's Gospel Jesus tells us that we should be righteous and that our righteousness should exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. I'm not so sure that descriptor was a very high standard for us since the Scribes and Pharisees were known as shallow and self-centered people that hung around the temple. They were always quick to point out when someone was not following the law but their actions, as Jesus pointed out many many times, revealed their hearts.
The righteousness that Jesus refers to today for us, that he is speaking to us today so that we may become more righteous, has to do with arguments. I am thinking that this should hit home for almost all of us since arguments, and disagreements, happen in life. However, Jesus gives us a very clear example or instruction that the words we use are what cause us to be less than righteous, less like Him. In language that was written long ago but certainly sounds like our modern-day lingo, Jesus mentions our calling people a fool. I have long thought that the absolute worst way to get someone to buy into our position or appreciate our ideals is to start off by referring to them as a fool. Because they don't think like us or have our perspective we start a dialog by calling them a fool or an idiot? Now THAT is foolish!
The instruction from Jesus today is a great reminder for us, however, the most intriguing part of this Gospel for me was the fact that Jesus calls our bringing this burden, the quarreling with our brother to his altar, as a gift. This certainly isn't the type of gift that we normally think of for a gift that we either give or receive might be a surprise or benefits the recipient in some way. God, as God, doesn't need a gift since He is perfect and there is nothing that can add to His Glory, nothing to make Him better or more complete but Jesus refers to our offering as a gift because it actually benefits us. We become unburdened and our turning to Him ends up, per usual, as a gift back to us.
May we be more aware of our speech and seek reconciliation with anyone with whom we have a quarrel. If it is difficult there is always the Altar.
Peace to you,
Peace to you,
John
