Deeper Righteousness!

Thursday, June 12, 2025

2 Cor 3:15-4:1, 3-6; Mt 5:20-26

Today’s Gospel highlights the need for deeper righteousness for Christians. 

How can we understand Jesus’ teaching on deeper righteousness in the context of not getting angry with others?

There is something insightful about Jesus’ teaching on anger. When Jesus teaches on murder, the emphasis does not fall on the act of killing or murdering someone but on the root of what leads one to kill or murder others. Since anger is at the root of a crime like murder, seeking reparation for one’s anger through reconciliation is what Jesus recommends for Christians.

However, that is not all. 

For Jesus, not being angry with someone does not hold a separate value unless it blooms into reconciliation, which cannot be delayed. Here, we sense some urgency in the words of Jesus directing us toward love and neighbourliness. 

Hence, what looks like a teaching against killing or anger is actually about neighbourly love. 

A relational existence or neighbourliness is more important for a Christian than following rules or fulfilling rituals. In other words, external observance of rules or rituals is inadequate unless such exercise helps the transformation of our hearts. 

Let us pray that our hearts may be transformed to grow in love toward our neighbours. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar