Season of
Great Fast
Fourth Sunday: MATTHEW 5:27-32
BE HOLY
INTRODUCTION
Jesus presented a revised standard on the
commandments of the Old Testament. The Jewish teachers had presented
adultery as a serious violation worthy of death penalty (Lev 20:10).
Jesus did not promulgate such a punishment in this world but an eternal
destruction in the afterlife, even for lustful desires. When a person
exceeds the natural desire, and deliberately nurtures it with lust, that
would lead to sin. So, Jesus instructs on getting rid of such root
causes of sin by making use of a figurative language. Jesus says, if the
right eye causes us to sin, that should be uprooted, and if the right
hand is the means of sin, that must be amputated to avoid a fall into
hell. These actions are not for literal implementation, but they show
the importance of avoiding the root causes of sin, like bad friendship,
malicious media, damaging addictions, or unhealthy consumptions that
would harm ourselves and others. Jesus also redefines the condition for
divorce and stresses on the unity and sanctity of marriage. The season
of Great Fast is an opportunity for us to reassess and renew our family
relationships and to cut off any bad inclinations from our lives.
BIBLE TEXT (MATTHEW 5:27-32)
Teaching About Adultery
(Mt 5:27) You have heard that it was said: Do
not commit adultery. (28) But I tell you, anyone who looks at a woman
with the intention of possessing her has in fact already committed
adultery with her in his heart. (29) So, if your right eye causes you to
sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a
part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. (30) If
your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is
better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body
thrown into hell.
(31) It was also said: anyone who divorces his
wife must give her a written notice of divorce. (32) But I tell you, if
a man divorces his wife for any cause other than unfaithfulness, he
causes her to commit adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.
INTERPRETATION
This gospel passage is a part of the sermon on the
mount that was a formal teaching in an informal setting. It was formal
because Jesus taught sitting (Mt 5:1) like the Rabbis’ way of teaching.
It was informal because it was done on a mountain rather than at the
Temple, the synagogue, or a house. He addressed to his disciples and
listeners who might become his future followers. Jesus presented those
who are poor in spirit, mourn, meek, merciful, clean of heart,
peacemakers, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and who are
persecuted for the sake of righteousness as blessed and are worthy of
great reward in heaven (Mt 5:3-12). After presentation of the
beatitudes, Jesus used the similes of salt and light for Christians in
the world (Mt 5:13-16). He then clarified that he came to fulfill the
law and the prophets and promised a higher rank in heaven for those who
obey and teach the commandments (Mt 5:17-20). He taught the urgency of
controlling anger that might lead to revenge on others and to one’s own
punishment (Mt 5:21-26). Jesus then brought a proper understanding of
adultery.
God gave the 10 commandments in
the written form on two stone tablets. However, Jesus did not say, “As
it is inscribed” or “as you read,” but as you have heard from the
ancestors or teachers of the Law. This phrase refers not to the direct
teaching of God or the prophets, but the laws and their interpretations
that rabbis introduced at a later period.
Israel had no prophets for four
centuries before John the Baptist. During that post-exilic period, the
Jewish teachers interpreted the laws according to their whims and
fancies deviating from the genuine spirit of the Lawgiver. So, Jesus
refined the laws, making them deviant from the popular teaching of the
time.
Adultery is marital infidelity and an offense
against the dignity of marriage. “When two partners, of whom at least
one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even transient
ones - they commit adultery” (CCC-2380). It is so serious an offense
that it is included as one of the 10 commandments of God given at Mount
Sinai. The prophets compared it to idolatry (Hos 2:7; Jer 5:7; 13:27)
because both are breaking of covenantal commitment. Just as idolatry
breaks the covenantal relationship with God and the faithful, divorce
violates the covenant between the husband and wife.
Adultery infringes the rights of the spouse and
affects the children who need parents as role models. Death penalty was
imposed on the adulterers (Lev 20:10-12; Deut 22:22-25). The goal was to
purge that evil from the chosen people. “If a man is discovered lying
with a woman who is married to another, they both shall die, the man who
was lying with the woman as well as the woman. Thus shall you purge the
evil from Israel” (Deut 22:22). Adultery was considered as the highway
to hell (Prov 7:27). The Old Testament considered it as serious as
idolatry and murder.
Unlike the scribes, Jesus taught with authority
because he is Son of God. He boldly clarified the wider application on
the commandments. The intention and the cause of the sin are as grave as
the action itself like hatred for murder and lust for adultery.
“You shall not commit adultery”
(Ex 20:14) is one of the 10 commandments God gave to the
Israelites through Moses. Jesus developed it by adding the intention
behind it because the Jewish teachers of the time gave attention only to
the very act itself. Jesus went deep to the longing that causes a sin,
as he did with anger that would lead to murder. God, who sees the
secrets of the mind, will judge based on the intention, regardless of
whether or not the action took place.
Though Jesus speaks of a man looking at a woman
with lust, it is applicable also to a woman doing the same towards a
man. In the past, when a man was mentioned, it could be any person, male
or female. The lust is not a casual glance at a woman or a momentary or
involuntary desire for sin, but a deliberate and continuous gaze that
eventually would lead to a strong passion. Though adultery involves at
least one married person, lust can be any extra marital passion between
two persons.
King David committed the sin of lust in his heart
by the prolonged watching from the roof of his palace, a very beautiful
woman bathing (2 Sam 11:2). Even after realizing that she was the wife
of Uriah, he committed adultery with her. When she became pregnant, he
called Uriah from the battlefield and made him drunk and urged him to
have relation with his wife, which was against the war ethics of the
time. Uriah told the king: “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in
tents, and my lord Joab and my lord’s servants are encamped in the open
field. Can I go home to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? As
the LORD lives and as you live, I will do no such thing” (2 Sam 11:11).
David’s intention was to hide his adultery with
Bathsheba from the public. Since that attempt failed, the king
deceptively killed Uriah and took Bathsheba as his wife. He instructed
Joab, “Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull
back and leave him to be struck down dead” (2 Sam 11:15). Thus, King
David is a typical example of how a sensual desire in the heart, if
nurtured, will lead to adultery, followed by other grave sins in
succession.
That is why Jesus asked to cut off at the moment
the sin could creep into the heart of a person. If we do not control at
the start of a temptation, it might lead to a sequence of sins. Since an
uncontrolled malevolence becomes an intentional act like adultery,
“Christ condemns even adultery of mere desire” (CCC-2380).
Humans have five basic senses: touch, sight,
hearing, smell, and taste. Out of these, sight is the most important
because we perceive 80% of all impressions by our eyes.
(https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/better-vision/health-prevention/why-good-vision-is-so-important.html).
Though the longing and decision to commit sin comes from our mind, the
eyes might have triggered for that. So, eyes have a prominent role in
committing sexual sins.
In the Bible, the eye has a leading role in causing
sin. The very first sin of humanity that Eve committed under the
influence of Satan was at the sight of the fruits of the forbidden tree.
“The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes,
and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom” (Gen 3:6). So, the
curious eyesight resulted in desire, which facilitated the decision to
commit sin.
David’s series of sins related to Bathsheba started
with his staring at her taking bath. “From the roof he saw a woman
bathing; she was very beautiful” (2 Sam 11:2). If he had controlled
looking at her at the first sight, he could have avoided the serious
sins that followed, including the assassination of Uriah. When St. Peter
speaks of false teachers, he says, “Their eyes are full of adultery and
insatiable for sin” (2 Pet 2:14). Thus, the Bible associates eyesight
with adultery.
Why Jesus used “right eye” in particular than using
the left eye or both eyes? The right eye is the dominant eye for most
people. It represents the eyesight, though both eyes are used for normal
functions except using equipment like piston, bow and arrow, or singular
eyepiece instruments. So, right eye, like the right hand, is considered
more beneficial.
Bible traditionally gave superiority to the
right-side organs is clear from God’s instruction on the installation
ceremony of Aaron and his sons. “After this take the other ram, and when
Aaron and his sons have laid their hands on its head, slaughter it. Some
of its blood you shall take and put on the tip of Aaron’s right ear and
on the tips of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right
hands and the great toes of their right feet” (Ex 29:19-20). The
prominence of the right eye is expressed in 1 Samuel 11:2 and Zechariah
11:17. Even if the right eye is plucked out, still the person can use
the other eye for vision-related sins. Jesus did not use this phrase in
a literal sense, but expressed the discipline necessary to avoid
temptation.
Jesus used hyperbolic language to instruct the need
for self-control of our human body and its parts. Tear out the right eye
symbolizes constraining the use of the eyes. The eyesight is only a
means for adultery. The decision is an act of the will. So, getting rid
of one organ will not take away the sin of lust. A person with one eye
or single hand can still commit sin. The usage means to block the root
cause of sin. The immoral inclinations will happen. But we must stop the
occasions that arouse them. Job had made a covenant with his eyes not to
gaze upon a virgin (Job 31:1). While avoiding sins with our bodily
parts, we should engage them for virtuous deeds.
In order to avoid an eternal misery in the hell, it
is better to get rid of whatever organ that might lead to it. We must
sacrifice the sinful pleasures for the eternal joy in heaven. In a
positive sense, we should use both eyes to do good and to build up the
kingdom of God. The salvation of our immortal soul is more important
than the sensual pleasures.
In the Bible, right hand is a symbol of authority,
strength, blessing, and service because most people are right-handed and
they use it for signing decrees, do most actions, and offer help. The
person next in command will be seated on the right-hand side of the
person in authority. Hence, Jesus sits at the right hand of his Father
(Mk 16:19). Right hand has been used for blessing (Gen 48:14). Though
God has no physical body like us, the Old Testament presents God using
his right hand to protect Israel (Ex 15:6, 12).
God has given the right hand to use our strength to
serve others. If we misuse it to hurt others, that will lead to eternal
destruction. Instead, we must use our hands to serve our family,
community, and the less fortunate who need our support.
This is parallel to the previous example of tearing
out the right eye to prevent sin. If a right-handed person loses his
right hand, he would be more handicapped than losing the right eye.
Cutting off the right hand is also a hyperbolic expression and should
not be taken in a literal sense. The lesson is that life eternal is
important for which we might need to sacrifice worldly pleasures that
might lead us to mortal sin.
St. Paul clarified this: “Put to death, then, the
parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire, and the greed that is idolatry” (Col 3:5). We need to be
selective in our friends, entertainments, drinks, reading, and watching.
Bad media, agnosticism, negativism, pornography, immoral people, over
consumption of alcohol, and use of drugs can adversely affect our lives
and those related to us. So, we have to cut off such elements for our
salvation and of others whom we might badly influence.
St. Paul advises Christians to live by the Spirit
in contrast to gratifying the desire of the flesh. “I say, then: live by
the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you
want. But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts
of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you
before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of
God. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against
such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have
crucified their flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:16-24).
When we sacrifice the desires of the flesh, it
would seem like losing a dear part of our body. However, that losing is
worth to avoid the hell and to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. Though we
enter heaven with an imperfect body, we will be perfect in heaven. St.
Paul wrote: “He (Jesus Christ) will change our lowly body to conform
with his glorified body” (Phil 3:21).
This implies that what follows is
not from God but a tolerance from Moses because of the hardness of heart
of the Israelites.
According to the Jewish tradition, marriage is a
sacred duty derived from God’s commandment to be fertile and multiply
(Gen 1:28). The only reason for delay or abstain from marriage was for
full-time study of the Law. Divorce is against the divine plan. God said
through Malachi that He hated divorce (Mal 2:16).
The divorce procedure during the pre-Christian era
was simple. “When a man, after marrying a woman, is later displeased
with her because he finds in her something indecent, and he writes out a
bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house”
(Deut 24:1). When the number of divorce and its misery for women were
unconstrained, Moses demanded a formal separation of couples for a
genuine reason with an official document. That would provide a legal
check upon uncontrolled separation of the couple and to provide an
opportunity for the divorcee to get remarried.
Two witnesses were necessary for the divorce
record. That was the proof for the divorcee that the marriage was
legally dissolved, and she could enter another marriage. A major part of
the bill of Jewish divorce states thus: “And now I do release,
discharge, and divorce you to be on your own, so that you are permitted
and have authority over yourself to marry any man you desire. No person
may object to you from this day onward, and you are permitted to every
man. This shall be for you from me a bill of dismissal, a letter of
release, and a document of absolution, in accordance with the law of
Moses and Israel.”
The husband was the judge to decide the divorce
leading to misuse of the freedom. The cause of divorce could be
interpreted in a strict sense as marital infidelity or as broad as
anything that displeased the husband, like a mistake in cooking food,
quarrelsome wife, her talk with strangers, or her immodest dressing. The
scholars of the school of Sammai upheld a strict interpretation that the
law was applicable only for adultery. The school of Hillel justified it
in a broad sense as anything that displeased the husband. Many men found
this as an excuse to get rid of their wives when they hated them.
Because of these different schools of thought, the
Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for
any cause whatever?” (Mt 19:3). Jesus replied, “What God has joined
together, no human being must separate” (Mt 19:6). When the Pharisees
continued questioning Jesus on the command of Moses to give the woman a
bill of divorce to dismiss her, Jesus replied, “Because of the hardness
of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the
beginning it was not so” (Mt 19:8). So, divorce was not a law, but a
tolerance that could be implemented for legitimate reason in a legal
format. However, Jesus abolished that allowance of the past.
The Israelites adopted the practice of divorce from
the Egyptians while they were in Egypt for centuries. They continued
that even after God gave them commandments on Mount Sinai. Moses could
not control the increase of divorce among his people because of their
hardness of heart. So later, he conceded to tolerate it with a bill of
divorce when there was a legitimate reason to do so. So, Moses
restricted the divorce for silly reasons, and demanded document evidence
for the safeguard of women. That did not mean God approved divorce as a
practice to follow. It was in contrast to God’s plan that “a man leaves
his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become
one body” (Gen 2:24).
The divorce, for silly reasons, was making the
lives of women and children difficult. Hence, Jesus nullified the
concession Moses gave because of its inconsistency with the divine plan
of marriage and the misuse by men. Jesus confirmed the unity of couples,
saying, “They are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has
joined together, no human being must separate” (Mt 19:6). Through his
revision of the law, Jesus secured the family life and safeguarded the
lives of women and children.
Jesus has a different interpretation of the law of
marriage and the tolerance Moses permitted using his authority as the
Son of God.
The only concession Jesus allows for divorce is the
unfaithfulness of the wife because she became one flesh with another
man, breaking the marital covenant with her husband. It is against the
essence of the marriage.
Since the divorce is invalid according to the
version of Jesus, the original husband is making his wife to have an
illegitimate relation with a new partner. So, the woman is committing
adultery, and the man leads to such a sin.
Since the divorce of the woman is not valid
according to the clarification of Jesus, she still is the wife of her
first husband and thus her marital life with another man is unlawful and
equivalent to adultery. The woman and the second husband are also
indulging in adultery.
Jesus restored marriage to its original status and
sanctity. Based on Jesus’ teaching St. Paul wrote, “To the married,
however, I give this instruction (not I, but the Lord): A wife should
not separate from her husband - and if she does separate, she must
either remain single or become reconciled to her husband—and a husband
should not divorce his wife” (1 Cor 7:10-11). This instruction is to
prevent the couple from the guilt of adultery and to preserve the unity
of the family.
MESSAGE
1. The Season of Great Fast is a period of our
spiritual renewal. Through our fasting and prayer, we try to master our
lives rather than our human weaknesses take control of us. However, we
need the grace of Jesus to attain it. Jesus said to the apostles at
Gethsemane, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41).
2. Jesus instructed to uproot the right eye if that
causes us to sin and to amputate the right hand if that is the reason of
our sinful life. Through these symbolisms, Jesus teaches us to uproot
everything that causes to sin, like bad friendship, habits, addictions,
or media that would destroy our soul and damage others.
3. David’s prolonged watching of Bathsheba taking
bath led him to a series of serious sins. That is a typical example of
how a nurtured sensual desire might lead to sinful and scandalous life.
4. Problems and conflicts are natural in family
life. The goal should not be to find fault or take revenge on the
partner, but to resolve the issue before it progresses. St. Peter
writes, “Let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a
multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).
5. Divorce is not a solution to marital problems.
The couples must give prominence to their martial covenant made with
Jesus touching the gospel. Unity of marriage is essential for the
development of healthy children and peaceful family life. In case of
disagreement in marital life, try to solve them at an early stage with
the help of qualified persons if needed.
6. In the modern world, we notice many conflicts
and separations of couples. These adversely affect their lives and
hinder development of their children. Let us pray for the unity and
sanctity of our families.