From Civility to Holiness

I am eight years old and my mom’s birthday is coming up soon.  I have a dollar or two saved up from my allowance so I ask her what she wants for her birthday.  She says for me just get along with my brothers, stop fighting and arguing with them and she will be happy.  Get along with my brothers!  This is too much.  I’m thinking: why can’t I just do what everyone does and buy something or make something.  Isn’t that good enough?

Of course, that is one of Jesus’ points today (Mt 5:17-37).  Just following the law, doing what everyone else does, isn’t good enough.  It’s good to follow the law, as Jesus says, not the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law and anyone who teaches against the law will be the least in kingdom of heaven – it’s just not good enough.

Without law, society as we know it would be impossible.  We prefer not to live in chaos and anarchy, but they are the only things possible unless society agrees to some set of laws.  Laws are the basis of all civil societies.  Jesus knows that.  But Jesus wants more.  Jesus does not call us to be civil; he calls us to be holy.  Holy cannot be legislated, for holy is in our hearts.  Holy is in our souls.  Holy does not come from Congress or the President or the Supreme Court.  Holy comes from God.

Jesus shows us the difference.  Of course, we should not kill one another, it’s unlawful, and we are subject to judgment.  But anger, calling names, or thinking badly of one another is not against the law, yet it is unholy.  It subjects us to the judgment of God.

One of the most important parts of the Jewish law – perhaps even the most holy part – described the laws of sacrifice, of bringing gifts to the altar of God.  Yet Jesus puts true holiness – reconciling with one another, loving each other as God loves us, forgiving one another as God forgives us – as a necessary prelude to bringing gifts to God.  It is this day-to-day holiness which is our best and truest gift to God.

Of course, holiness is a much higher bar than mere civility and following the law, a concept I understood even as an eight-year old boy wanting to just buy a present for his mom.  Instead, she wanted what Jesus wanted – holiness.  Imagine that, my mom may not have known the Sermon on the Mount by heart, but she certainly knew it in her heart.

Fortunately, while holiness seems hard, that’s an understatement.  It is impossible for us to be holy just by trying hard or just by obeying the law.  But it is very possible to live holy lives with the grace of God, a grace that God showers down on us with abundance. The only way to be holy is accept that grace.  This is faith.  This is the faith that saves us.  This is the faith that helps us realize the holiness, the godliness that is within us.  This is faith that gives us the courage to obey the law.

This is the faith that allows us to meet the challenge that Jesus will lay down for us at the end of Matthew 5 – “So be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)