The Key to Holiness

Scripture Reflection for the Sevent Sunday in Ordinary Time (February 20, 2011)

Scripture Readings:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8+10, 12-13
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

One of the great classics of American religious literature is a sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards on July 8, 1741 entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In this sermon, Edwards says famously that just as “it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell.” In Edwards’s view, human beings are totally corrupt, and unless they repent, God is more than ready to punish them with the fire and brimstone of hell.

What a different picture of humanity and of God our readings present to us today! Human sinfulness is certainly not something to be ignored or forgotten, but our readings today remind us that we are much more than sinners, and that God is much more loving and challenging than angry. Today’s readings might remind us of another classic in American religious literature—Thomas Merton’s account of his mystical experience in Louisville, Kentucky. At the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the middle of the shopping district, Merton all of a sudden realized that people “are all walking around shining like the sun . . . The gate of heaven is everywhere.” Our readings today challenge us to be what we are.

In our first reading from Leviticus, God challenges us to be just like Godself—holy, forgiving, loving of others. Paul reminds us that we are God’s Temple, where God’s spirit dwells, and so there is no need to be boastful of anything else. Jesus’ challenge, on the new Mount Sinai of the New Convent, echoes but maybe even surpasses God’s challenge in Leviticus: be perfect as God is perfect.

What might it mean to be holy, to be perfect, to be formed into a Temple that reflects God’s presence in this world? I think it comes down to one word: generosity. Leviticus calls Israel, and in these readings, us, to have no hatred for people, not to be vengeful and grudging—to be generous to them. The generosity that Jesus calls us to is expressed in images of turning the other cheek, giving more than is asked, going the extra mile, opening our hand for a loan, loving even enemies, praying for those who persecute us. This is something we can do every day, whether in our family at home, at work, at school, in our neighborhood. This is an everyday holiness, and it can make each of us sacraments of God’s generosity in our world.

Generosity is the key to holiness, the key to being perfect as God is perfect. And we can be generous because we have been given so much. Paul reminds us that, because we belong to God and to Christ, we have everything! The Spirit has made us the place where God’s presence dwells—we are God’s Temple! Much more than sinners in the hands of an angry God we are people who shine like the sun! Yes, our Scriptures today call us to be what we are.