We have two very interesting readings for Mass today. The first reading is about "the way we were," – and the second is about "the way we could be if we really tried very hard."
The first reading: the story of how Jezebel deceived her husband, King Ahab, so that he would have to put to death the one who would not sell him a vineyard - is intended to give us the devious nature of life before Jesus – the moral life that Jesus would come to redeem and transform.
The gospel passage relates how Jesus himself does in fact transform the Old Law –the old way of thinking, the old way of doing things – and gives us the command and the power to live his new law - his new way of thinking, his new way of acting. In this continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples that "an eye for an eye" was a good thing at one time: for it at least brought about a fair retaliation for misdeeds, instead of a grossly unequal and uneven sort of revenge; but – he is saying that
if you listen to me, if you live what I am saying to you now and someday, if you are baptized into the forgiveness of your sins, you will become ENTIRELY NEW CREATIONS IN ME – and therefore, your response to aggression will be unlike any response you ever thought possible: when someone strikes you on one cheek, you will automatically give him the other; if someone wants your shirt, you will give him your coat as well; when someone asks you to go one mile to do something for them, you will go two – you will give to those who ask, and not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow!
But how difficult it is for us always to really and truly and wholeheartedly believe all that BEING A NEW CREATION can really mean for us! How hard it is some time for us to do these things!
Maybe today we can think about it! There is a NEW LAW: and it is the LAW OF LOVE! When we experience the service of loving others as we would want to be loved ourselves – then we are proving our love for God – and we are BEING NEW CREATIONS: for the power to do these difficult things, which seems to pull us and extend us beyond our limits, is none other than the power of the Holy Spirit – who will make the burden and the yoke of Christ's New Law easy and light! These unpleasant tasks will grow wings and carry our souls aloft while we trod the path behind Jesus here below, with great joy in our hearts, until he leads us safely home to be with him and his Father, forever!
Hearken to our words, O Lord – heed our call for help this day!
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