A reading from the book of Deuteronomy (26:16-19)
Moses said to the people: ‘Today the Lord your God commands you to observe these laws and customs; you shall keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have brought the Lord your God to declare that he will be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his customs, and listen to his voice. And today the Lord has brought you to declare that you will be his treasured people – as he has said – and that you will keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and splendour, he will raise you higher than every other nation he has made, and you will be a people holy to the Lord, as he has promised.’
This solemn reading invites a renewal of the covenant between Israel and God, and is punctuated with three uses of the word ‘today’. At Moses’ bidding the people of Israel renew their solemn commitment to the Law of the Lord, with its ‘statutes’, ‘commandments’ and ‘customs’, to be kept and observed ‘with all your heart’ and ‘with all your soul’. The people have ‘brought the Lord to declare’ that ‘he will be your God’. And the Lord has ‘brought you to declare’ that ‘you are his treasured people’. This amounts to a renewal of the covenant, reflecting the basic formula ‘I will be your God, and you will be my people’ (Jeremiah 31:33). They are committed once more to be a people ‘holy to the Lord’.
Psalm 119 (118) Psalm 119 is a magnificent celebration of the Law, source of happiness, and is constructed as an ‘acrostic’, where every stanza begins with a subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (5:43-48)
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have heard how it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy”. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the evil as well as the good, and sends down rain on the righteous and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers and sisters, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
This is the sixth and final ‘antithesis’ from the Sermon on the Mount. Yesterday we heard the new ruling of Jesus to avoid all anger and aggression against others. Today the command is to love not only the neighbour, but the enemy too. Christians should both love the enemy and pray for the persecutor. The goodness of the creator God , who provides sun and rain for all, is in this way imitated by the children of God. The standard is higher than that practised by tax collectors and gentiles, even though their conduct might sometimes be exemplary. This final antithesis points most clearly to the newer and deeper justice which God invites (Matthew 5:20). There is nothing greater than to seek to imitate the all-embracing love of God. Jesus concludes: ‘You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (teleioi).
Am I ready to pursue new standards of goodness, inspired by the wisdom of Jesus?
Pray for the desire to be ‘perfect’, without embarrassment, and the wisdom to know what it means to be ‘holy’.