Wednesday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses the formula “when you… do not…” to speak of righteous deeds, praying and fasting. These were traditional practices of devout Jews.

It appears that Saint Matthew borrowed this passage from another source and inserted the Lord’s Prayer into the paragraph about prayer. It is good that the Lectionary restores its original shape.

The formula emphasizes the authority of Jesus. “When you…. Do not…. Amen, Amen I say to you…. But when you…. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

Clearly he is giving us a new law, and an entirely new way of thinking. If you ever thought that appearing righteous before your neighbors impresses your God, think again. Jesus has come from heaven to tell us that God is wise to our foolishness.

Which, when you think about it, is good news. Would you want a God who is so gullible, so pliable, so seducible? Is it not better to have a God who penetrates the darkest secrets of our hearts, smokes us out of our hiding closets, and invites us into the daylight of his grace?

Jesus’ invitation is friendly, persuasive and irresistible. It is also demanding, frightening and persistent. I am reminded of John Donne’s sonnet:

Batter my heart, three-personed God: for You

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurped town, to another due,

Labour to admit You, but O, to no end;

Reason, Your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,

But am betrothed unto your enemy:

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again;

Take me to You, imprison me, for I

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

                        John Donne

Jesus has come to save us at the cost of his very life. He will use every ounce of his authority to persuade us to trust him. Yes it is that important. Yes, you are that important to him.