Friday of Week 1 of Lent – Gospel
20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Commentary on Matthew 5:20-26
Today’s readings are about repentance for the wrongs we have done and the guarantee of God’s mercy. The Gospel passage comes from the Sermon on the Mount, and is the first of six so-called ‘antitheses’ where Jesus contrasts the demands of the Law with those of the Gospel.
Virtue, for the scribes and Pharisees, was largely measured by external observance of the law. For Jesus, that is not enough. For him, real virtue is in the heart. There was a commandment not to kill, but Jesus says that even hatred and anger (i.e. violence in the heart, often expressed by abusive language) must be avoided. Furthermore, we cannot have one set of relationships with God, and another set with people.
So, it is no use going to pray and make our offering to God if we have done harm to a brother or sister. I must leave my gift at the altar, and first go and be reconciled with my brother or sister. Only then may I come to offer my gift.
I cannot say I love God if I hate a brother or sister:
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars… (1 John 4:20)
and
Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. (Matt 25:45)
Repentance has to be expressed both to God and the person I have hurt. It is not possible to be reconciled to one, and not to the other.
We have something like this in every celebration of the Eucharist, although in practice, it can be very superficially done. At the beginning of the Communion, we together recite the Lord’s Prayer in which we all say:
…forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us…
How often are we conscious of saying those words, and how often do we really mean them?
Just after that, we are invited to share a sign of peace with those around us. Again, this can be done in a very perfunctory way. But the meaning of this gesture is that we want to be totally in a spirit of union and reconciliation with each other before we approach the Lord’s Table together to break the Bread—which is the sign of our unity as members of his Body.
