Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sr. Sharon McMillan, SNDdeN
February 15, 2026
Matthew 5: 17-37
From the beginning of Jesus’ public life, Matthew identifies Jesus as the Wisdom of God incarnate, the new Moses, the authentic teacher of God’s Law. After Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum and then calls his first disciples, he immediately ascends the mountain and begins to teach his disciples with divine power and authority: “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you.” He reveals the new Law and the new Covenant for a new people.
We know that Jesus was a thoroughly observant Jew who was devoted to keeping the Law. So Matthew assures us, at the very beginning of today’s Gospel passage, that Jesus has not come to abolish the Jewish law but to fulfill it. We see him deepen and radicalize Old Testament teaching, returning it to God’s original intention. Jesus dares to explicitly modify or correct what God had said through Moses.
The traditional interpretations which Jesus repeats are presented as inadequate, not false. Jesus takes each teaching and then goes to its root meaning, never relaxing the Law but making it more demanding. For Jesus the goal is right relations among disciples in a covenantal faith community, disciples who follow a crucified Messiah, disciples who are to lay down their lives for their friends. A few lines later in his Gospel, Matthew summarizes the goal: we are to be “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48).
In each of the six examples Jesus discusses, he goes to the core of the attitudes and actions that are necessary for his disciples to fulfill what the Law intends. Genuine discipleship demands more than the avoidance of murder or violent rhetoric or adultery. Jesus insists we look into our hearts to uncover the real state of relationships living there. What are the grudges, the resentments, the cold silences, the deep hurts, the self-righteousness that I have built up over time? Especially those times when I can hear myself say, “But I’m right! It wasn’t my fault!”
Jesus insists that we actively work for reconciliation with sisters, brothers, friends, family even to the shocking statement that I must first leave my gift at the altar. Reconciliation with others and justice in our relationships are more essential than worship, or perhaps are a more fundamental form of genuine worship. We are called to take the initiative to heal relationships first. I think immediately of Fr. Greg Boyle’s teaching: “Forgive everybody everything.” And as we heard a few Sundays ago, it is the “clean of heart who see God.”
Matthew 5: 17-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with brother will be liable to judgment; and whoever says to brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife — unless the marriage is unlawful — causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Meet Sister Sharon McMillan, SNDdeN
