Morality Sunday/Freedom-of-Choice Sunday (Between a Blessing and a Curse)]
Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26
The prophet Jeremiah paints a picture of a real human society in our first reading, because we experience the same reality even today, 2500 years later. He divides human beings into those who exude blessings and those who exhibit curses. Today, we will say the society is divided between the good and the bad, good citizens and bad citizens, faithful friends and traitors, etc. This Sunday, God invites us to consider the ultimate repercussions of our behavior/morality: our morality defines us and not the information we have in our brains about God or the theories of goodness or badness we have learned in school — we are our behavior/morality!
The two classes of people Jeremiah describes travel two different roads on the basis of the GPS or compass that guides them. For Jeremiah, a cursed person is 100% depended on human GPS or INSTRUCTIONS. In other words, he turns his heart against God. The “heart” is the seat of morality. In the Old Testament, the knowledge of God is not the information about God in one’s head; on the contrary, it means the behavior/action or morality that conforms to God’s Commandments. Therefore, when a “heart turns away” from God, it means that God’s Commandments are inconsequential in that person’s behavior/actions or morality. Jeremiah compares a person like that to a desert, a typical symbol of death. One implication is that one is dead without God!
The road to blessings is the heart that trusts and hopes in God, says Jeremiah. Such a heart is fruitful, because God lives in it and God is its life; by turning one’s heart to God blessings follow. It is one’s connection to God that gives life, and separation from God brings death. It follows that human behavior opens up two doors — one to life, the other to death; a life anchored on human beings perishes, but every heart God directs basks in the fullness of life. Our responsorial Psalm today (Psalm 1) clarifies Jeremiah’s position: we are either for God or against God!
The blessings and curses of today’s gospel continue the topic of morality/behavior of the first reading, but with a difference — there is a reward in heaven for the “blessed”. With today’s gospel message, earthly living does not exhaust human life. This point is VERY important, so that we should not LIMIT blessings to earthly SUCCESSES as people of the Old Testament generally did! Jesus emphasizes that human behavior is what divides the society into two; that division is human invention and not Divine! It suggests that the rich create the poverty of the poor by usurping the property of the poor; those laughing are responsible for the unhappiness of those who are sad because they mock them instead of alleviate their problems; the desire of some to be praised is at the origin of the hatred of others because they use others as tools for their own selfish ends; the lies some concoct (false witnesses) result in the tears and weeping of others. Both human omissions and commissions impact human relationships, and human beings are responsible NOT God. In other words, the “blessed” and the “cursed” live side by side, but they shall have different rewards hereafter.
Our gospel reading sets our gaze on the future, and not on the present as Jeremiah does in the first reading. Over and over again, our gospel says “ you shall . . . you shall . . .” in order to keep us focused on the one thing that is essential —Heaven! It does not mean that the present is unimportant; rather, it shows that differences in the behavior or morality of human beings boil down to an exercise in freedom. Our gospel completes what is lacking in our first reading: the freedom to behave the way one chooses necessarily implicates sanctions or reward and punishment. Also, our choice of morality proves whether we believe in Heaven or not. Those who believe in Heaven choose God’s Commandments as their guide; those who do not, choose earthly directives/GPS for their morality. Our behavior shows our or choice, either for or against God!
However, So that one does not imagine an escape route from the consequences of one’s actions, our second reading makes the resurrection-of-the-dead an imperative. Neither the bad person nor the good person would escape their reward because of death. At the resurrection, both will receive their rewards — positive or negative. In reality, blessings and curses will be determined at the resurrection. Earthly successes are human standards for measuring success, God’s measure will be at the resurrection. Here and now, a heart that is united with God is not discouraged by sorrows, bad news, oppression, etc. It rejoices in doing what is good and right because of God. Such a heart sees the happiness of others and their well-being as an imperative God imposes and they do it, whether or not they receive blessings on earth. The blessed or the good attempt to live out heaven on earth through thick and thin.
Whether it is the differences in the roads members of the human society ply or their behavior that separates them, our second reading makes SIN every behavior that God forbids. To sin is to choose death. To live in sin is to consciously reject heaven or the resurrection with God. By extension, sin makes one a permanent resident of the earth without hope of heaven or communion with God. Doing good is already a predestination for Heaven and a declaration of union with God while on earth.
Morality Sunday invites us to start living heaven on earth. To have one’s heart turned towards God, and behaving on the basis of God’s Commandments is to anticipate heaven while on earth. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, after his cross and crucifixion, changes the meaning of earth sufferings into mortgage payments and investments in heaven. Yes, where there is hope of heaven, every injury — insult, spittle, calumny, betrayal — become a step on a ladder to heaven. What is important on Morality Sunday is not the reality of human behavior as good and bad; on the contrary, what is sad and depressing is the SCANDAL that a child of God —a Christian — would freely choose to misbehave and offend a good and loving God, who died for the redemption of our sins!
Just come to think of it: how many people officially claim to be Christians and how many places of worship of God do we have around the world, yet we see the daily collapse of human morality? Imagine two Christian countries — Russia and Ukraine — brandishing their capacity to kill and destroy, with no iota of love and show of restraint! The GOOD NEWS is: you can choose to belong to the good and the blessed! The choice is yours to make! If you do make that choice, at least, you reduce the number of the cursed and the bad by one—the power of conversion!
Assignment for week:
Seek out someone who has offended you and offer him/her an olive branch.