Readings: Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11, 4:13-17; Ps. 127:1-5; Matt 23:1-12
Matthew’s preferred image for Jesus is found in today’s reading, that of Teacher. Much of the Gospel is given over to the teaching of Jesus, and three chapters (5-7)– the so-called Sermon on the Mount – are central to this compendium. At the end, after the commission to the church of evangelizing ‘all nations’, the evangelist adds the task of ‘teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you’ (27:20).
This characterization of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew has been described in terms of the ‘teacher of true righteousness in the Kingdom of heaven’. ‘Kingdom of heaven’ is Matthew’s title for the Reign/Kingdom of God, which is not all about an afterlife but already announced by Jesus. Jesus is asking his disciples to adapt themselves to the saving justice of God’s mercy and not rely on a righteousness made from their own merit. The Psalmist proclaims this in the Beatitude, ‘O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways’. Such a ‘fear’ flows from following the word and ways of God; this is the sure path to spiritual freedom and moral fruitfulness founded on faith.
The teachings of Jesus today appear more apt to an examination of conscience than a sermon, treating the attitudes and actions of the Gospel. The audience of this teaching -‘the people and his disciples’ – are admonished not to act like the Pharisees who are not spared the invective of the Incarnate Word of God. In his magisterial commentary on the Gospel John P. Meier expresses the evangelist’s concern and caution: ‘It is important to remember that all of [Matthew’s] fierce invectives against Pharisaical Judaism reflect a personal concern for his own church. The church is in danger of imitating the mistakes of the Pharisees and so falling under the same judgement. Completely contrary to all this haughty “leadership” is the true style of Christian leadership and greatness’.[1]
Kevin O’Gorman SMA
[1] Matthew, (Dublin: Veritas, 1980), pp. 265-266.