Our “Words” of Response and Commitment Create Us
Saturday:
Tenth Week of the Year: June 11, 2016
Year
II: 1Kings 19:19-21; Psalm 16:1-10; Matthew
5:33-37
(Also the Feast of St. Barnabas: Acts 11:21-26,13:1-3; Psalm 98:1-6; Matthew
5:33-37)
1Kings
19:19-21 shows
us the importance of words as commitment. Elisha, when called, must respond.
And Elijah, who calls him, will accept only immediate, unconditional and
undivided response to his call. Jesus is the same. He will not accept anyone as
a disciple whose commitment is divided between him and possessions, family
ties, social customs, or the preservation of life itself (see Matthew 8:19-22;
19:21; Luke 14:33).
Our “words” of response and
commitment create us. Like the words of God who said at creation, “Let there
be… And it was so” (Genesis 1:1-30), when we speak words of free choice we
become what we choose to be: honest or dishonest, loving or hateful, liars or
reliable. The choice Jesus calls us to make at Baptism is radical and
all-inclusive. The Responsorial (Psalm
16) declares it: “You are my inheritance,
O Lord.” We live for nothing else but him. That is our final word.
In Matthew 5: 33-37 Jesus
rewrites the commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor” (Exodus 20:16), expanded in Leviticus (19:11-12) to “You shall not
deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another [or] swear falsely by my
name, profaning the name of your God.” Jesus adds: “but carry out the vows you
have made to the Lord.”
Jesus takes us far beyond this.
First he says not to swear by any creature in heaven or on earth, because that
is indirectly to swear by God the Creator and Ruler of all things. Nor should
we swear by anything in ourselves — not by our “head, for you cannot make one
hair white or black” — or logically, by our “honor” or anything else presumed
to have importance for us (such as, “I swear on my mother’s grave”), because
nothing in us or dear to us has any ultimate importance except from its
relationship to God. In fact, he says, “Do not swear at all.… Let your word be
‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”
Is Jesus making a “rule” here?
No. He is simply teaching us to be and to live on the level of God. That is his
New Law. His commandment is not just to avoid the “sin” of speaking falsely or
irreverently. He wants us to realize that every word we speak carries the
sacredness of the words of God, not only because we are made in God’s image,
being able to utter rational words, but because we are divine, endowed with
God’s life and Spirit. Our words should be as true and reliable as the words of
God himself (see Isaiah 55:10-11).
The author of Hebrews (6:13-16)
acknowledges the cultural practice: “Human beings, of course, swear by someone
greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all
dispute.” Jesus is saying that if we assume our words should need more
validation than God’s do, we are implicitly denying we are divine!
Initiative:
Give God’s life: Minister as a priest: Let every “word” you speak —
verbally or in action — be an expression of the life of Jesus within you.
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