From: Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law (Continuation)
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Commentary:
43. The first part of this verse—”You shall love your neighbor”—is to be found in
Leviticus 19:18. The second part—”hate your enemy”—is not to be found in the
Law of Moses. However, Jesus’ words refer to a widespread rabbinical interpre-
tation which understood “neighbors” as meaning “Israelites”. Our Lord corrects
this misinterpretation of the Law: for Him everyone is our neighbor (cf. the para-
ble of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37).
43-47. This passage sums up the teaching which precedes it. Our Lord goes
so far as to say that a Christian has no personal enemies. His only enemy is
evil as such—sin—but not the sinner. Jesus Himself puts this into practice with
those who crucified Him, and He continues to act in the same way towards sin-
ners who rebel against Him and despise Him. Consequently, the saints have
always followed His example—like St. Stephen, the first martyr, who prayed for
those who were putting him to death. This is the apex of Christian perfection—
to love, and pray for, even those who persecute us and calumniate us. It is the
distinguishing mark of the children of God.
46. “Tax collectors”: the Roman empire had no officials of its own for the collec-
tion of taxes: in each country it used local people for this purpose. These were
free to engage agents (hence we find reference to “chief tax collectors”: cf. Luke
19:2). The global amount of tax for each region was specified by the Roman au-
thorities; the tax collectors levied more than this amount, keeping the surplus
for themselves: this led them to act rather arbitrarily, which was why the people
hated them. In the case of the Jews, insult was added to injury by the fact that
the chosen people were being exploited by Gentiles.
48. Verse 48 is, in a sense, a summary of the teaching in this entire chapter,
including the Beatitudes. Strictly speaking, it is quite impossible for a created
being to be as perfect as God. What our Lord means here is that God’s own per-
fection should be the model which every faithful Christian tries to follow, even
though he realizes that there is an infinite distance between himself and his Crea-
tor. However, this does not reduce the force of this commandment; it sheds more
light on it. It is a difficult commandment to live up to, but along with this we must
take account of the enormous help grace gives us to go so far as to tend towards
divine perfection. Certainly, perfection which we should imitate does not refer to
the power and wisdom of God, which are totally beyond our scope; here the con-
text seems to refer primarily to love and mercy. Along the same lines, St. Luke
quotes these words of our Lord: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”
(Luke 6:36; cf. note on Luke 6:20-49).
Clearly, the “universal call to holiness” is not a recommendation but a command-
ment of Jesus Christ.
“Your duty is to sanctify yourself. Yes, even you. Who thinks that this task is on-
ly for priests and religious? To everyone, without exception, our Lord said: ‘Be ye
perfect, as My Heavenly Father is perfect’” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 291). This
teaching is sanctioned by chapter 5 of Vatican II’s Constitution “Lumen Gentium”,
where it says (40): “The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all perfection,
preached holiness of life (of which He is the author and maker) to each and every
one of His disciples without distinction: ‘You, therefore, must be perfect, as your
Heavenly Father is perfect’ [...]. It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in any
state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection
of love, and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered also in earth-
ly society.”
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Liturgical Colour: Violet.
| First reading |
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| Deuteronomy 26:16-19 © |
| Psalm |
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| Psalm 118:1-2,4-5,7-8 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | cf.Lk8:15 |
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| Or | 2Co6:2 |
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| Gospel | Matthew 5:43-48 © |
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