Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:20-26

   “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment ….”  

In yesterday’s Gospel passage, Our Lord stated that He had come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  Starting today, in the Gospel at weekday Mass we hear examples of Jesus fulfilling the Law.  We will hear various examples through next Tuesday.

Jesus uses a phrase today that He repeats several times throughout the fifth chapter of Matthew.  When Jesus uses the phrase “You have heard that it was said…”, He is signaling that He is going to present a contrast to us.  In each case, Jesus first presents a basic teaching from the Jewish Law:  for example, in today’s Gospel passage, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’”

Then, Jesus explains how such a teaching of the Law is to be fulfilled.  In the example about anger in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus declares,  “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment ….”  The rest of today’s Gospel passage, then, is Jesus unpacking His new teaching.  This unpacking is Jesus’ fulfillment of an ancient teaching from the Law.

Today, then, we need to reflect on Jesus’ teaching about anger.  What is the means by which Jesus teaches His disciples to live out in their own lives the fulfillment of this teaching?  The means is reconciliation.  Jesus, in the examples He cites, gives two commands:  “go first and be reconciled with your brother”, and “Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.”  Reflect, then, on reconciliation with your neighbor as a means of loving your neighbor, and therefore also as a means by which to enter into the love of God.