From: Matthew 5:38-48
Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law (Continuation)
[43] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.’ [44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you. [45] So that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven;
for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust. [46] For if you love those who love you, what reward
have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? [47] And if you salute
only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do the same? [48] You, therefore, must be perfect, as your Heavenly
Father is perfect.”
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Commentary:
38-42. Among the Semites, from whom the Israelites stemmed, the law of ven-
geance ruled. It led to interminable strife, and countless crimes. In the early
centuries of the chosen people, the law of retaliation was recognized as an ethi-
cal advance, socially and legally: no punishment could exceed the crime, and
any punitive retaliation was outlawed. In this way, the honor of the clans and
families was satisfied, and endless feuds avoided.
As far as New Testament morality is concerned, Jesus establishes a definitive
advance: a sense of forgiveness and absence of pride play an essential role.
Every legal framework for combating evil in the world, every reasonable defense
of personal rights, should be based on this morality. The three last verses refer
to mutual charity among the children of the Kingdom, a charity which presup-
poses and deeply imbues justice.
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 parable
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 sinners
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 distin-
guishing 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, in-
cluding the Beatitudes. Strictly speaking, it is quite impossible for a created be-
ing to be as perfect as God. What our Lord means here is that God’s own perfec-
tion 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 Creator.
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: Green.
| First reading |
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| Leviticus 19:1-2,17-18 © |
| Responsorial Psalm |
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| Psalm 102(103):1-4,8,10,12-13 © |
| Second reading |
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| 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:23 |
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| Or | 1Jn2:5 |
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| Gospel | Matthew 5:38-48 © |
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