Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26

 

The text of today s Gospel forms part of a broader or more extensive whole. In these passages Matthew tells us how Jesus interprets and explains the Law of God. Five times He repeats: You have heard how it was said to our ancestors, in truth I tell you! 

 

Before, He had said: Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; no, I have come not to abolish, but to complete them. The attitude of Jesus before the Law is, at the same time, one of breaking and of continuity. He breaks away from the erroneous interpretations, but maintains firm the objective which the Law should attain: the practice of a greater justice, which is Love.

 

An uprightness which surpasses that of the Pharisees. This first verse presents the general key of everything which follows. The religious ideal of the Jews of the time was to be just before God. 

 

Before the destruction of the Temple, in the year 70, the Christians participated in the pilgrimages in Jerusalem to present their offerings at the altar and to pay their promises. In the year 80, at the time when Matthew wrote, the Temple and the Altar no longer existed. They had been destroyed.

 

The community and the communitarian celebration became the Temple and the Altar of God. One of the points on which the Gospel of Matthew exists the most is reconciliation. Matthew enlightens this situation with the words of Jesus on reconciliation which demands acceptance and understanding. The only sin that God does not forgive is our lack of pardon toward others.