Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I was reminded of a parable as I reflected on read this weekend’s readings. There was a little boy who had a nasty habit. He would catch butterflies and hold them in his little fist. He would then go about the village posing a question to people, which they could never get right. Extending his fist toward them he would ask if the butterfly was dead or alive. If someone said that the butterfly was alive, he would let the butterfly go free; but if someone said that it was alive, he would crush it in his fist and prove them wrong. One day, a wise man visited the village. The boy approached the wise man as if to claim another victim through his nasty game. The boy stretched out his hand toward the old man and said, "Sir, if you are as wise as everyone believes you to be, please tell me whether the butterfly in my hand is dead or alive.” The wise man was unperturbed. He looked calmly into the boy's eyes. “Son,” he said, “the choice is in your hands.”
In today’s first reading Sirach says, “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” Just like the wise man taught the little boy, the choice is in our hands.
Before I go forward, let me put Jesus’ words in the gospel in their proper context. We continue with our reflection of the Sermon on the Mount. Two weeks back we heard Jesus proclaim the Beatitudes, and then last week, Jesus challenged his disciples to be “salt of the earth,” and “light of the world.” It is my argument that in the rest of the Sermon, he suggests practical ways in which the disciples can live out Beatitudes or be salt and light for the world. He further says, “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:19). Literally, the choice is in our hands.
Let us draw three practical implications from today’s readings.
1. Four Areas for Consideration. Jesus brings four areas before the disciples for consideration: anger, lust, divorce, and oaths. Jesus makes it clear that as followers of Jesus our life we have choices to make in these areas. Each day, then, like that little boy, we too carry butterflies in our hand. We can hold on to anger or let it go. We can let lust have a free reign in our lives or deal with it. We can be choose to be faithful in our relationships or not. We can choose to be people or integrity or not. However, beyond the choices we make, there is something deeper at risk here. As we heard in last Sundays readings, the choices we make defines whether we are “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” or not. The choices we make decides whether our “good deeds” gives glory to the heavenly Father or not. Heed Jesus’ warning. He says, “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven…” The choice is in our hands.
2. The Kingdom - Here and Now. The Kingdom in the here and now. A word about the Kingdom in which, Jesus says, we will either be great or least. We generally equate kingdom of God with heaven. Most people also think of heaven as a place that someday we will enter. But as the Catechism tells us, heaven is not a place. Heaven is a state of being. In other words, heaven is not merely a place that we look forward in the future. Heaven can be in the here and now. That is why in the only prayer that Jesus taught us, he asked us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is heaven.” We are invited not merely to try to go to heaven but to make heaven here on earth. The practical implication of Jesus’ prayer and today’s readings is simply this — that in every choice we make, we are either making or not making heaven on earth. This is particularly significant issue today in light of the volatile situation in our nation. Catholics have the moral responsibility to ask this question - in light of the choices I am making these days… does my understanding of the America mirror what heaven might be like? Who is in and who is out… who belongs and who does not belong… these are not merely political questions — these are moral questions. The choice is in our hands.
3. Focus on Jesus. Just for a moment, I would like us to shift our focus to Jesus. It was one thing for him to preach the Sermon on the Mount and quite another for him to hang on the cross as his enemies jeered at him and as his mother grieved for him. As Sirach says, “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” The only thing in the case of Jesus was that it was by choosing death that he would choose life and by choosing life he would choose death; not just for himself but for all of humanity. As Jesus was dying on the cross, he too had choices to make. Jesus chose not act in anger. Instead he chose to forgive those who murdered him. His “Yes” to God was also and “Yes” on the cross. He chose to remain “faithful” to God and God’s people by loving them to the end. In his choice, Jesus fulfilled the Law; through his death his became the greatest in the kingdom; by his death Jesus became the Beatitudes. What Jesus was, every disciple is invited to become. What Jesus did, every is invited to do. The choice is in our hands.
As we come to celebrate this mass, let us bring our lives before Christ. Let us bring our anger, our capacity for lust, our relationships and our integrity and place it on the altar. Let us pray that in the choices we make, we will say Yes to the Kingdom. Let this Eucharist give us strength. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph