There is no doubt that God is different from man in His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, yet He created man in His image and likeness. That is, we are like God but not God. We are on track as long as we acknowledge that truth; the moment we forget it, we stray from the Creator and fall into a deep pit of our own creation.
God has given us His law in the form of commandments, which may be difficult but are possible to fulfil. The First Reading (Sir 15: 15-20) states: “If thou wilt keep the commandments and perform acceptable fidelity for ever, they shall preserve thee.” In His infinite goodness, He has created water and fire, good and evil, life and death, and we must bear responsibility for the same while we have the freedom of choice.
Although the yoke is easy and the burden is light, we humans rebel against God’s law. We have a natural propensity to sin, but then, how long can we put up a ‘fight’? Is it not better to have a conciliatory attitude, an attitude of humility and surrender instead? “The eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him, and he knoweth all the work of man.”
It is essential to have faith and trust in the Lord if we wish to be happy. “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!” says the opening refrain of Psalm 119. In the world’s thinking, following God’s law and not our own is a sign of weakness. How faulty an approach to our problems! The bulk of these come from pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth, all of which cause a host of immoral behaviours.
Sadly, the flesh is attracted to what sin promises. We fail to see that it comes from a master liar, the devil. Therefore, let our prayer be: “Give me understanding, and I will search thy law; and I will keep it with my whole heart.” (Ps 119: 34) Needless to say, the Christian outlook will be different from that of the secular world that surrounds us, for, as the truly wise St Paul says in the Second Reading (1 Cor 2: 6-10), “We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew.”
Knowledge of the Mystery of Christ is true wisdom. Alas, the world has long misjudged this, or else they “would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” It is a matter of great consolation that God has prepared something special for those who love and adore Him. It takes faith—total trust in God—to determine it. Of course, those who are faithful enjoy that moral certainty; the unseen God reveals Himself to them through the Spirit, “for the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.”
The beauty of it all: the humbler and more childlike we are, the more is revealed to us. “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.” The first ones of this world will be the last in the kingdom. The rich and powerful, the bold and beautiful will hide their faces in shame. This truth alone could take away our fret.
In the Gospel (Mt 5: 17-37), which is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus highlights self-control, lifelong marital relationships, and honest communication: “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, we must not only keep the commandments ourselves but also enjoin upon others to do so.
Jesus makes it clear that He came not to abolish the old law but to perfect and fulfil it. He emphasizes loving obedience over mere ritualism or legalism. Although Jesus was referring to the Jewish law and its enforcers, we could apply the same to the natural law, which we cannot pretend to be ignorant of, for it is set like a seal on our hearts. It is no use to rationalise or interpret the law according to our whims and fancies, for God knows our hearts’ innermost recesses.
We must stop looking at God’s law as oppressive. When we accept it with understanding and love, it is healing. Given that we tend to go about our daily tasks wearing a mask, it was time we shed the mask, for God can see through it all. The more truthful our living is, the better.
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