Here we go again: what does it mean to be holy?
In the Old Testament, an individual followed the Law, or Torah,
because being obedient helped her to develop an attitude that brought
her back into the presence of God. In
our reading this Sunday from the Book of Leviticus, the Holiness Code that the
Lord gives Moses explains how the people are to act in relationship to one
another so that they might be as like
God as they can, by acting out of love: You shall not bear hatred for your brother
or sister in your heart, God says, You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
And if we should stray from holiness, Psalm 103 reminds us that we can
rely on God’s compassion to heal us, to make us whole, to make us holy:
Merciful and gracious is the Lord…
Jesus, of course, takes this all a step or two further than
Leviticus. In our reading from Matthew,
Jesus says no less than love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Whoa, what?
Even when slapped, we are to turn
the other cheek. Why? Well, think about it like this: you are to try to draw the offender into your
holiness, into God’s presence (in you), so that you can overwhelm that enemy
with holiness. This means entering into
the depth of God’s love for all, good and bad alike. Because when all is said and done, we can
allow no division between ourselves and God’s creation; we need to seek
perfection on God’s terms. Paul tells
the Corinthians that the temple of God,
which you are, is holy. Holiness is
no less than God revealed in us. And to
get there, we need to reach for the greatest there is, even if we can’t quite
attain it. For everything belongs to you… and you to Christ, and Christ to God. If we are Christ’s Body on earth, then
doesn’t it behoove us to do our very best to be holy?
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
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