Gospel of 12 June 2020
Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:27-32
If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.
‘It has also been said: Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you: everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.’
Reflexion
No one doubts that our Lord was speaking metaphorically when He spoke of self-mutilation being preferred to eternal damnation in hell. It’s meant to be a hyperbole: an exaggerated scenario shocking enough to get our attention. The shock value is meant to show how evil sin is! Nothing could be worse than sin and its consequence, which is hell. Sin causes death—eternal death! Sin leads to hell.
Too often many modern Catholics have ignored or dismissed the above by saying that Jesus didn’t really mean what He said. They have been enamoured by a fluffy soft modern gospel of the nice. It’s a gospel which consoles us, affirms us (even in our wrongdoings) and makes absolutely no demands of us.
But the truth is, as we have heard in our Lord’s hard statements today, the moral imperative of the Gospel is not optional; it is fundamental. In the preaching of Jesus, conversion leads to a break with sin – as in Zacchaeus’ professed act of repentance and promised restitution, as in Jesus instructing the woman caught in adultery to sin no more, as in Jesus directly confronting the Samaritan woman at the well about her immoral relationships.
In none of these cases did our Lord give approval to their sinful lifestyles nor did He encourage them to continue in this way of life. In fact, in every single instance, our Lord challenges them to renounce their past sinful lives, as a prerequisite to following Him. He is not only the Divine physician who heals us but the Divine Surgeon who is willing to go through great lengths to remove the cancer of sin from our lives, less the rot leads us to hell. This is because He wants us to remember that we should never become comfortable with sin. In fact, we should dread sin above anything else in this life.
Don’t believe it when Catholics tell you that they can accept everything about the Catholic faith except its moralising doctrines, which they believe are un-essential. No, Catholic morality is the very heart and soul of the Gospel, indeed, it is the very joy of the Gospel. The Gospel is a profound call to repent, to break with sin, to accept new life in Christ. In the preaching of Jesus, the critical importance of morality is emphasised from the beginning of His ministry. Jesus may very well have met sinners “where they are,” but only to point them in the direction of living faithfully by the Gospel. As we can see in the Sermon on the Mount and our Lord’s teachings on the Beatitudes, the Gospel is a call to holiness which will ultimately result in your complete and utter sanctification in Heaven.
To preach the Gospel is to preach a break with sin and a new life of grace in Christ. To preach the Gospel is to lead sinners to repentance. To preach the gospel is to save our bodies from being thrown into hell.
Everyone deserves to hear the Truth, the full Truth and nothing but the Truth. They deserve and they have a right to hear the Gospel in its entirety, and not just a watered down version adapted to the twisted values of our society - a society where bad and sinful behaviour are applauded and celebrated, criminals are canonised and good people are vilified. The reason why we must preach the gospel truth instead of some other lie is because the preaching of the gospel is meant to save souls and not just make people feel good about themselves. And, this is the Truth that will set you free!