LOVE, A NEW LAW OR THE NEWNESS OF THE LAW.

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February 16 2020: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - A


 
READINGS: Sir 15:15-20; Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34; 1 Cor 2:6-10; Mt 5:17-37 or 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37
A Bulgarian proverb says, “Draw water from the new well, but do not spit in the old one.” Another proverb adds, “Until the old moon disappears completely, the new moon cannot come.”
Is love a new law or the ever-renewed expression of the law? Love is nothing new. It is something which is called to be always renewed and translated into hands-on actions. For, in the kingdom of love, what was before is what will always be, nonetheless, only expressed in different languages. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors ... But I say to you.”
The French Philosopher, Antoine Lavoisier would say, “Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme” (Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed). Today’s liturgy is an invite to transformation. It is about the newness of the Law or the new way to live what God prescribed.
Already, in the first reading, Sirach tells us that to be saved, one needs to choose keeping God’s commandments. Human life, he says, is to be immersed in what God prescribes; and what he prescribes are for our good and the good of all. Sirach can therefore insist, “No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” All that the Lord wants of us is to always thirst for righteousness and goodness.
Unfortunately, oftentimes, human interpretation of the law corrupts the deep meaning of that one. Jesus, in the Gospel will refocus our attention on the real meaning of the law. He does not actually dictate a new law. Rather, the Lord redirects our heart not to the mere letter, but to the inner of God’s commandments. He starts assuring, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” This makes it clear that the law of Jesus is not a new law, but the renewal of the law and its accomplishment. Then, for the law and the prophets to be fulfilled, the Lord Jesus teaches us the central element of all: love.
To love is, obviously, the only right way to comply to all that the Lord commands. Because, where there is love, there is no issues of killing, anger, fight, insults, adultery, covet, divorce, false oaths, and any other evilness. The absence of love is that which provokes all those things. People fight each other, couples divorce, we judge others’ actions and life, we criticize, insult, abuse of others’ rights, curse and even kill, simply because love has faded away from our hearts, or that we have never truly loved or be loved.
The Lord Jesus bringing about the newness, warns us on what the absence of love could lead man to do. As his followers, these words sound as firm warnings he addresses to us today. We are urged to be people of the newness, that is, to break up with all old habits and evil behaviors and embrace the novity. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors ... But I say to you.” It is a call to make of love the unique instrument and the barometer of our life. We are called to live in the wisdom of God which surpasses the wisdom of this world. As baptized flock of the Lord, we do not have to align our conduct on that of this present age; rather, on God’s love incarnated in Christ Jesus.
In practical aspect, what the Lord calls us for is, if our world today speaks of divorce, we should rather oppose to it the wisdom of God, by helping the couples to build on a stronger foundation of love. If the world, today, preach self-centeredness and egoism, the selfie-mentality, we should value the alter-ego, that is, the other than ourselves.
With the risk of repeating the Lord’s advices of last Sunday, we are called to be salt and light of this world, that is, people whose life influence positively on others and guides them to newness. We have the challenge, to set not the world or the common view of the world as our model. Instead, to be ourselves the models for others. That newness the Lord preaches calls for a falling-out with the oldness. The fulfillment of the law means to go beyond the law. It is an imperative call to not set our norms on mediocre life style, but on divine values. And the most splendid of all providential values is love. Because, love is the way of God and the way to God. May we, always, cultivate among ourselves lovely attitudes and cut-off with all that causes us to sin.

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