Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
When I met my husband, who was a math major in college, he was part of the Missouri Club. This club, dedicated to math tutoring, was named after the “show me state.” While some people love math, others struggle not just to understand the laws of math, but especially to know when and how to apply them. A “simple” thing like order of operations - whether to add or multiply first and how parentheses work in math can be tricky. And my husband assures me that even 2+2 does not always equal four, depending on what base you’re in…what does that even mean?! Show me, don’t tell me!
In today’s gospel, we encounter Jesus in the middle of his big teaching moment known as the Sermon on the Mount. He has gathered a large crowd precisely because he has been showing people what right-relationship with God, which pulls us into right-relationship with others, looks like. He has been showing us what God’s Love is by embodying it. He has been showing us what the kingdom of God is like by enacting it; who wouldn’t be drawn to that kind of teacher? Show me the kingdom, don’t just tell me how it works!
This is more than teaching something like math, though. This is full-bodied knowing. Christ embodies God’s law, the law of Love. And, he calls us to do the same. Christ assures us that he does not come to abolish the law or the prophets. Christ embodies the life the law is meant to lead us toward. Along the way, he appears to break a law here or there, like when he heals on the sabbath. However, he is not breaking the law, but embodying the right order of operations. We are not made for the sabbath, Christ insists; the sabbath is made for us to live fully.
Sometimes, Christ confuses the people around him. There certainly is a logic to the kingdom of God, but there it is also a mystery that is beyond our human logic. As disciples, we learn about God’s Love by experiencing it; we learn the kingdom of God by being shown it by faithful witnesses. We learn by practicing it and beginning to live this Love ourselves. God calls us to embody the law of Love, to live the kingdom of God here and now, as it already is in heaven.
—Kelly Adamson