Fr. Paul D. Williams, Jr., pastor, St. Joseph's
It's difficult to talk to my sister on the phone. She has her hands full. As I've told you, she has ten kids, and as we talk, it seems we get interrupted every 30 seconds or so, as she would have to say something to her kids. Often, the conversation pauses and I hear her say to one of her kids, "don't do that." Then a few moments later, it's "don't do that!" Then, it seems to reach an apex when she says, "don’t even think about it!” Well, that's usually the last thing I hear before she has to go. I have great respect for the responsibilities and hard work of mothers.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come, not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” And then he begins to teach on the law in this great Sermon on the Mount, which has been called the “greatest sermon ever preached.” And what Jesus is preaching about in this Sermon are the Ten Commandments.
Well, you know, the Ten Commandments are really very simple to understand. The first three deal with our relationship with God - “you shall have no other Gods before me”, “you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain”, and “keep holy the Lord’s day.” The fourth commandment deals with our relationships in the family, “honor you father and mother.” The last six deal with our relationships with our neighbor, and they are divided up into two categories: those that say, “Don’t do it”, and those that say, “Don’t even think about doing it.”
That’s what Jesus does when he teaches on the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount: he takes each commandment and says, “You have heard the commandment, don’t do it; what I say to you is, don’t even think about doing it.”
First, he takes the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill”, and fulfills it with the eighth, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Don’t do it, don’t even think about doing it. Certainly the greatest harm we can do to our neighbors is to kill them, but we can also harm our neighbors by holding them in contempt, lying about them, damaging their reputation, harming their good name, getting angry with them or using abusive language.
There is a lot of death in this culture, so much so that Pope John Paul called it the “culture of death”: murder, abortion, euthanasia, crime and drug use, terrorism, war, genocide. All of these things are happening every day around us, but all of these things arise from within, from anger, from lack of forgiveness, from selfishness, from falsehoods. If we listened to Jesus’ admonition, “Go first to be reconciled with your brother”, if we changed our hearts first, then perhaps we would impact this culture of death around us and make it a culture of life.
Next Jesus goes onto the sixth commandment, “You shall not commit adultery”, and he fulfills it with the ninth, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” Don’t do it, don’t even think about doing it. And Jesus is pretty clear about this one, something which I believe is often forgotten in our modern culture, “anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his thoughts.” I hear too often things like, “Oh, it’s OK to look, just don’t touch”, “What’s wrong with a little fantasy?”
Well Jesus gives some interesting advice, “If your right eye is your trouble, gouge it out and throw it away! If your right hand is your trouble, cut it off and throw it away!” We live in a culture saturated with lust, and even worse, it is all aimed at young people, especially our teens. Watching television nowadays is an occasion of sin, and parents are responsible for what their children watch. If the television causes you, or your children, to sin, then cut it off and throw it away. Modesty and virginity and chastity and purity are not four-letter words, but instead they flow from the teachings of Jesus himself, and he should be the one teaching our children, not MTV.
Finally, though he doesn’t teach about the seventh and tenth commandments directly in this part of the sermon, the same principle applies. “You shall not steal… You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.” Don’t do it, don’t even think about doing it. Later on in the Sermon, he teaches us what to do instead: that we are to give alms, instead of taking from others, that we are to give from what we ourselves have. And then he gives the reason why it is so important that we not misuse our gifts, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” If we place our desire for wealth and possessions over our desire for God and the obligation to serve others, then we are not fulfilling the commandments.
Now, in today’s culture, we don’t like to be told what not to do. We don’t want to put up with anything that impinges on our perceived freedoms. But remember what the book of Sirach said, “before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” The commandments of God are not a list of “thou shalt nots” designed to keep us from having fun or experiencing pleasure. But instead, behind each commandment is a basic human good that is worth protecting. And if we understand that, then the Commandments are a source of life, freedom, and joy.
The fifth and eighth commandments protect the good of life, in both its spiritual and physical dimensions. The sixth and ninth commandments protect the goodness of chastity and marriage. And the seventh and tenth commandments protect the goodness of God’s creation and help us to keep everything always ordered towards him.
Sircah says “If you choose you can keep the commandments”, and Jesus says, “Whoever fulfills and teaches these commands shall be great in the kingdom of God.” And will it be worth I, keeping the commandments? Do we want to reach that kingdom? Well, St. Paul describes that kingdom, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love him.” And who is it that loves him? Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
