Virtue/anger and the Law

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There are three things that I want to focus on this today that come out from the Gospel reading: Virtue, Anger and the law.

It must have really surprised many listeners when he said “If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and the Pharisees.”  The scribes and the Pharisees thought of themselves as being a cut above the rest. They followed the law to the very letter not letting anything slip. So therefore they saw themselves as virtuous. Listening to Jesus saying that their virtue is not worth very much must have really angered them. What he was saying was that the Virtue of these people was only skin deep. So what is true virtue it is something that is not just on the surface but goes deep within ourselves True authentic virtue flows through us. Compassion for our brothers and sisters should come from the heart not from the law and just doing it because we are told too. It flows from Compassion, love and honest relationships. IF we have a pious exterior like the scribes and the Pharisees and do not change in the heart then we are not living authentically. It is like the scribes and the Pharisees who do virtue but do not live it with compassion.


The second thing that we can look at is anger. IT is true to say that all of us get angry at some point or another. A lot of people get very anxious about being angry but it is really quite an important emotion. It is an energy that we should channel appropriately. So when Jesus says today “Do not get angry with your brother” Jesus is not condemning anger after all Jesus got angry himself. Look at Jesus in the Temple. So anger at times is right and should be expressed. It when this natural emotion turns into hostility it starts getting dangerous. St Paul says that we should not let the sun go down on an argument. If we get angry quite a lot then we need to look at why we are getting angry what causes it. Asking God in prayer to look at the motivation of anger would be useful. The emotion can be used in a positive way if we use it probably. For example being angry about injustice in our neighbourhood or the world. 

The law was important to Jesus and he followed the law of the land and his parents but probably the most important law that he followed was the law of God. He did not come to abolish the law what he criticized was the way the law was interpreted. What Jesus saw was that the most important thing to do was to follow the law of love. To put love first is a challenge especially when we are angry with our neighbour. When we lack virtue by following the current trend rather than the law of love. To follow this law takes courage and takes us sometimes out of our comfort zone. 

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