Sir 15:15-20; 1Cor 2:6-10; Mt 5:17-37
“Whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
I asked a graduate college student why he was not going to graduate as expected. His reply shocked me: “I cannot graduate because I forgot to write my thesis.” How could he honestly say that he forgot to write a thesis that was included in his academic curriculum from the first day and which all his other classmates wrote? How could he claim to have forgotten to write his thesis after taking thesis writing classes and having a thesis adviser assigned to him? His claim to have forgotten was as outrageous as a pregnant woman saying that she forgot to give birth!
He reminded me of how we tend to make up excuses when we face something that is difficult, challenging, or too demanding for us. We unknowingly form a habit of making excuses that spills into our spiritual lives, especially when it comes to keeping God’s commandments.
Sirach 15:15-20 reminds us of three things to keep in mind when we are tempted to make up excuses not to keep God’s commandments.
First, we always have free will. Thus, we can choose to be faithful or to sin.He says, “If you will, you can keep the commandments, they will save you…God has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.” Many factors like habit, stress, and fear could have diminished our responsibility but God never takes away our free will or forces us to act against our will.
Secondly, no matter the excuses that we make up for not keeping the commandments, God’s commandments are always valid and effective. Our fidelity or infidelity to His commandments always have grave consequences on us, “Before men are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.”
Thirdly, God does not accept or recognize our made-up excuses. In short, He does not give us permission to make up such excuses for our infidelities, “No one does He command to act unjustly, to none does He give license to sin.” If God does not give permission to sin, no one, not even the Church or state, can give anyone permission to languish in sin.
Jesus affirms these three things when He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.”(See Mt 5:17-37). He has come to perfect and emphasize the necessary interior disposition of the commandments. He has also come to fulfill the commandments in us by His grace. As long as we can face and renounce our made-up excuses, we too can keep the commandments from our hearts that have been transformed by His grace and infused by His love.
Thus, He authoritatively defines for us our new vocation in these words: “Whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” It is no longer enough for us to avoid killing, but we can and we should keep angry thoughts from our hearts as long as we are not making excuses to be angry. It is not enough for us to avoid adultery, but we can and we should keep lustful thoughts from our hearts if only we reject the many excuses we make for entertaining certain lustful thoughts and desires. It is not enough for us avoid false oaths, but we can and we should keep lies and insincerity from our hearts as long as we are not making excuses for our lies and deception.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are unknowingly forming the disastrous habit of making excuses not to keep the commandments of God. Some Christians today believe that the commandments are so outdated that they must be “updated” so that the Church becomes more inclusive to accommodate those who reject the call to conversion and faith. Some claim that they are so weak to keep the commandments that its demands must be ameliorated to make them more palatable for their taste. Some Church leaders erroneously believe that they are being pastoral when they pretend to dispense the faithful from fulfilling the commandments.
Some claim that they are no longer sure what the word of God actually stipulates and prohibits when it comes to God’s commandments. Some say that God has made them in a certain way and with certain sexual orientations that sort of dispenses them from fulfilling the commandment to live chastely. Some claim that they have been saved once and forever and thus they cannot lose their salvation no matter their moral choices. Some claim that surely our merciful God will understand that we are only human and so cannot but be unfaithful to His words. Some justify infidelity by claiming that others are doing so too.
Let these words ring deep in our hearts, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7). Our made up excuses do not help us at all but only make us reap the horrible fruits of corruption and depravity. Let us today in prayer beg for the grace to name and let go of the many excuses that we make to dispense us from fidelity to God’s commandments.
Instead of multiplying our excuses for not keeping God’s commandments, let us begin to cooperate with His grace by cultivating honest and trusting hearts. Let us show our honesty towards God by accepting and acknowledging His moral truths with its high demands. We show our honesty by not settling for external acts alone without true inner dispositions. Let us be honest with Him in all our trials, persistent temptations, sinful desires, moral failures, fears, addictions. We show our honesty by our sincere and persistent attempts to be faithful to His words.
But we must not trust in our efforts or resolve in keeping His commandments. Let us place all our trust in the grace and mercy of God. His grace will move and sustain us to live by God’s standards and not by our mediocre worldly standards. His mercy will forgive and heal us when we fail in fidelity to Him and raise us up to begin again with hope and courage. That is why God gave us the sacrament of Reconciliation in our struggles to be faithful to His commandments. Why give us such a sacrament if we are permitted to make up excuses and determine our own moral standards?
Jesus Christ wants us to be in His kingdom of life, joy, and peace, “Where I am, there too my servant will be.” (Jn 12:26) Keeping His commandments out of love for Him remains the only valid and effective way into His kingdom and to avoid eternal death, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”(Jn 14:15) His grace in us too is powerful to fulfill the great demands of the commandments that we were helpless to do on our own.
He comes to us in each Eucharist to fulfill these commandments in us and through us. Let us cooperate with His grace by abandoning our many excuses, become honest and sincere with Him, and trust in Him all the days of our lives no matter our moral successes or failures. This is how we will obey Him from our hearts, teach others to be obedient too, and be called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Glory to Jesus! Honor to Mary!
