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Dive into Difficult Teachings
6 min
Gospel
Mt 5:17-37
“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Readings are taken from Dynamic Catholic’s Bible: RSV Catholic Edition.
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Transcript
Dive into Difficult Teachings
So we have a long reading there today. Is there a word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at you? Jesus is teaching. He's teaching these teachings. He's reteaching people about the things of old. He's clarifying, expanding the teachings of the prophets and the law, and they're difficult teachings, very difficult teachings. And right here at the end, we got maybe the most difficult. "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." How often do you say yes to something you know you should be saying no to? Okay. Sure. Sometimes we don't know. Right? Sometimes situation, "Eh, yes, no, not sure." Have to make a decision on the fly. Don't have really time to discern. Okay. I get that. I get that. But how often do you say yes to something that you know in the moment, before and when you're saying yes, that you should be saying no to?
It happens, doesn't it? I look back on my life, and it's like, "Hmm." There's just been so many times when I've said yes and I knew I should be saying no or I said no and I knew I should be saying yes. And so what seems like this last line in this fairly long reading-- you could even glance over it. You could even be thinking about something else and miss it. But it's there. "Let your yes be yes. Let your no be no." Let's go out in the world. At the end of every video, we talk about be bold, be Catholic. Boldness is letting your yes be yes and letting your no be no. That's just one expression of it. But let's do that. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.
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