Gospel of 26 February 2021
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Matthew 5:20-26
Anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother “Fool” he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him “Renegade” he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’
Reflexion
Affirmative action, which is basically institutionalised discrimination, seeks to correct the injustices in society by giving disadvantaged people, usually minorities, an advantage over others to help them rise in standing, to be on par with the rest of society. Unfortunately, affirmative action has also been accused as another form of bigotry - the soft bigotry of low expectations, which is described as a prejudicial view of certain groups of people, regarding them as unable to meet the same standard of behaviour or achievement set for most people. In other words, affirmative action may actually be reinforcing the view that without assistance, these groups of people are too stupid, too inefficient, too incapable, to amount to anything in society. Affirmative action may actually condemn them to a life of mediocrity.
The same could be applied to morality. In the name of being compassionate, we often set mediocre standards for people, not expecting them to be able to live up to the high demands of the Christian call to perfection and holiness. Instead of helping people to aspire and strive to be more Christ-like, we seem to be constantly lowering the bar and by doing so, we are reinforcing the myth that the Christian vocation is unattainable. Without realising it, we are not helping people to get to heaven. Instead, we are condemning them to the hell of low expectations.
Today, our Lord reminds His disciples, “If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” He proceeds to give several examples where He raises the bar from the standard set in the Old Testament. Instead of the famous Yogi Bear adage, “why do more when you can do less,” our Lord challenges us with the opposite, “why do less when you can do more.”
When lowering the bar becomes the goal of life, it eventually bottoms out - where we are no longer held to any standard in life. Instead of improving ourselves by striving to live up to a higher standard, we end up with a moving standard that is always pegged to our current lifestyle. But this cannot be true. We are meant to be gods, not ants. We are meant to be Saints, not just perpetual sinners. We are meant to be the redeemed children of God, and not just hopeless discarded rubbish.
Lent daily affords us opportunities for spiritual renewal and growth in holiness. We make spiritual progress by always aiming higher, going further, growing deeper in our faith. Lowering the bar can never mean growth, it only spells regression. At the end of the day, as the first reading reminds us, it is not the state which we find ourselves in which really matters, but the state we hope to be in, at the end of our journey. Those who pride themselves over their current state and achievement may learn to regret one day that they have lost everything through a life of sheer mediocrity. On the other hand, those who acknowledge that they lack much now, that they are imperfect sinners, may find the reason to grow in virtue and perfection. Though we must learn to be contented with our material wealth, but in terms of our spiritual state, there must be a constant restlessness. St. Augustine reminds us in his Confessions: "You [God] have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."