Friday, March 15
Readings: EZ 18:21-28; MT 5:20-26
The bottom line of the first reading today (literally the last line in the reading!): if you turn away from sin, you will live. And then the gospel gives us the beginning of Jesus’ famous series, “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” Where Jesus takes us deeper into the spirit of some of the teachings of his day.
What might these mean for us?
As far as I can read from the gospels, Jesus was about “orthopraxis” – it’s a fancy word for “the right practice” (as opposed to “orthodoxy” which is the “right belief”). He didn’t seem as concerned with what you said you believed so much as with what you did with what you believed.
I have always loved the phrase, “In nature there is no right and wrong, only consequences.” I think both readings point us to something like this. There are consequences for the actions that we do – whether we are considered righteous or sinner – and that these have spiritual consequences. And your history as righteous one or sinner does not protect you from the consequences of your actions.
Jesus goes on to break open one of the folk teachings of the day in order to show people the deeper layers and ramifications. He says that if you stick with just “you shall not kill,” and stop there, you miss something important. Anger, not just killing, he says, has spiritual consequences in our life, so don’t let it build up.
A lot of things have consequences, though, that are really hard to see – for better or for worse – because they only build slowly. And, unfortunately, our body/consciousness “warning systems” are great at detecting immediate threats but not so good at detecting slow threats. Our cultural upbringing has also taught us things that we have come to take for granted. Some of these need some serious unpacking so that we fully understand the impact that they have on us. What we see or think may only be the “tip of the iceberg”.
Which is why we need to slow down, be still, listen deeply and re-spect (literally to look again) a lot of what we have been taught or come to believe. Some of it may have disastrous consequences for our spirit (and for our planet) that we did not even realize.
What is one thing that you would like to reflect on more deeply in your life and explore what consequences it might be having on your spirit? (It could be a piece of conventional wisdom, something your family espoused or a belief that you hold that you’d want to interrogate a bit, etc.)
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