• Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
  Reading 1  Sir 15:15-20

  Responsorial Psalm  Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34

  Reading 2  1 Cor 2:6-10
  Alleluia, alleluia.
  Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
  you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
  Alleluia, alleluia.

  Gospel  Mt 5:17-37 or 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37

Sirach tells us, “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” Sirach is one of the latest books of the Old Testament, written while Israel was under the domination of the Greeks. During this time, the Greeks attempted to force their gods onto the people of Israel to make them better citizens of their empire, which ultimately lead to the Maccabean revolt and a brief period of independence for Israel, until Herod the Great and the Romans showed up. In spite of this political turmoil, Sirach maintains the reality of individual free will, and the connection of our choice in our actions to our relationship with God. We are formed by what we do.
This image of a choice between life and death, good and evil echoes a communal choice given to Israel when it first entered the Holy Land, at the end of the book of Deuteronomy. Upon completing the presentation of the law: the teachings that explain Israel’s relationship with God, each other and the world, Moses, speaking as God commands him, tells the people of Israel, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and clinging to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Moses gives the people as a whole the same choice that Sirach tells us we have as individuals: to do good or evil: to follow the law, God’s teachings about Israel’s unique relationship with him, or to reject God.

Unfortunately, most of the Old Testament consists of a long history of Israel choosing to reject God, and reject His commandments. Even great figures like David, Solomon, and even Moses himself sin. Because of the sins of the people, the nation is divided, and later each of the parts is conquered. The Northern Kingdom, called Israel, is conquered by the Assyrians, who deport the people around their empire, and import a new, pagan people that would eventually become the Samaritans we see in the Gospels. The Southern Kingdom, called Judah, ruled by the descendents of David, is conquered by the Babylonians, who deport the people into Babylon. Once the Babylonians are themselves conquered by the Persians, the people are returned to Israel, still subject to foreign domination, albeit of a more tolerant sort. That foreign domination becomes harsher once Alexander the Great conquers the Persians, and Israel becomes a border territory fought over by the kingdoms formed by his heirs: the Ptolemeys in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria. This is a long way of saying: the people of Israel, given the choice for good or evil, seem to repeatedly choose evil, which leads to disaster after disaster for the people.
In light of this, Jesus’ attitude towards the law seems very strange. He doesn’t look at the repeated failure of the people to keep the law given by Moses - to fulfill their part of the covenant with God - and say, don’t worry about it, just try to do good, try to be a little better and I’ll take care of the rest. Instead, he defines the crimes against the law in the widest possible way. The law says You shall not kill. Jesus says anyone who says ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. The law says don’t commit adultery. Jesus says looking lustfully at someone is already committing adultery in your heart.

Like the law, this wisdom forms the basis of our relationship with God and with each other: the love of God and love of neighbor that serve as the most fundamental commandments. Unlike the law, it doesn’t just illuminate the truth, but in accepting it, it can also cleanse our mind and hearts so that acting in accord with it becomes possible. Through God’s wisdom, we become more and more conformed to Christ, like us in all things but sin. We become more and more like Christ. This makes the task Jesus has given us - summarized in next Sunday’s Gospel as “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” - possible.

This conformity to Christ, this becoming Christ, is revealed and made possible by God’s wisdom, but must then be nurtured and grown so that it can truly become complete within us. This growth and nourishment comes from the sacraments, prayer, and virtuous life. By habitually acting in an upright way, by practicing the good, we are trained to continue acting in an upright way. When the barrier of vice and sin grows between us and Christ, we go to the Sacrament of Confession so that the forgiveness of sin given through His death and resurrection, and then entrusted to the Apostles, can be applied to our faults. During this Mass, we participate in Christ’s sacrifice, growing our conformity to Him. By receiving his body, blood, soul, and divinity as food that becomes part of us, provided we are prepared for that reception, our conformity to Christ is nourished and we grow in communion with the Church.
This leaves us with a choice: the choice given by Sirach and Deuteronomy. We can conform ourselves to Christ, or we can conform ourselves to our sinful inclinations. We can choose life, or we can choose death. As with Israel, this is a choice that we face as individuals, but it is also a choice we face as members of the Portsmouth Abbey community, and as members of the larger society and culture, to which we are called to bring Christ.