HOMILY 4TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR A 2026
A FUNDAMENTAL CHARTER FOR CHRISTIAN LIFE
Mt 5.1-12a Zeph 2.3,3.12-13 1Cor 1.26-31
If you ask Professor Google about the most famous speeches in history, this one regularly features, up there with Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”, Nelson Mandela’s “I am prepared to die” speech from the dock, Mahatma Ghandi’s “Quit India” speech on non-violence, Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, John F Kennedy’s inaugural “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”, and many others, but Jesus’ teaching is right up there, with the Sermon on the Mount, here in Matthew, or on the plain in Luke’s version, described as “a cornerstone of moral teaching”. It’s not that we’re into a popularity contest, but that Jesus’ message has concrete relevance in our lived experience of reality. Also notable is the fact that: “The Sermon on the Mount was called by Ghandi and Martin Luther King as the grandest manifesto of non-violence ever written.”
The Jerome Biblical Commentary describes it as “Matthew’s masterpiece”, which it then calls ‘The Exordium’ with Beatitudes and sayings about salt and light that states the missionary meaning of disciples’ life”, described as “a piece of deliberative rhetoric that persuades us to take action in the future and that serves as the proposition or thesis for the whole Gospel, giving intellectual satisfaction and security… eschatological, ethical, legal wisdom, or law as instruction.”
Says scripture scholar Raymond Brown: “This is Matthew’s greatest composition… a harmonious masterpiece of ethical and religious teaching… with divine power and authority.” Likewise, Brendan Byrne SJ states: “The Beatitudes are not commandments bluntly instructing the disciples (and so you and me) about how they should live. They are rather invitations to adopt certain attitudes and live out certain values in the light of a particular vision of God.” I call them the Be-Attitudes, or the positive attitudes we should apply to our lives.
Well, here we are, back to basics, with the fundamental teaching of Jesus about how to live a Christian life well, with a sense of happiness and fulfilment, here and now, not just in a future life in heaven. A misinterpretation can lead to thinking that this life is a burden to be borne, in the ‘vale or valley of tears’, with the happiness of reward only to come later, when this life has ended. We do have a right to seek happiness in life, although we all know life can weigh us down in darker moments of pain and unhappiness. Jesus’ call is to support each other in the journey of life and faithful discipleship.
It seems to me that Jesus is proclaiming a way of life which is to improve life for all, through applying these basic principles outlined in today’s Gospel, often chosen for funerals, as we reflect on and celebrate imperfect lives, but well lived and loved.
Only yesterday I was talking with parishioner and friend, Alistair Fraser, about his wife Patricia’s funeral, and he had no hesitation in choosing the Beatitudes as an appropriate Gospel for her, as he said it summed up the way in which she had lived a good Christian life, over her nearly 91 years.
Jewish Law, the Torah, contains 613 commandments, with 248 do’s and 365 don’ts. Jesus doesn’t dismiss it, but fulfils it with his own teaching, culminating in the law of love of God and neighbour, along with the universal Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
As a supposed canon lawyer, having studied the 1752 canons of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, I can vouch for the fact that there is an almost unending list of rules, regulations and principles, of varying importance, concerning structures, procedures, practices and principles in Catholic Church life, but the primary concern is stated at the end of the Code, where it concludes with the overarching statement that the supreme law is the salvation of souls, which I translate as ‘the good of the people of God’, along with equity, to be understood in Australian as ‘a fair go for all’. And when I was lecturing, I’d always start with that final canon, which just happens to be in the section on transfer and removal of parish priests, so don’t get any ideas!!
There’s no doubt that Jesus had a deep knowledge and respect for traditional Jewish law, but it is also clear that he saw law as having its place, but not to be imposed as a burden to make life more difficult for the ordinary person, particularly for those in trouble or need of some sort or other. There are plenty of examples throughout all 4 Gospels, where he placed the needs of the people before the restrictions of the law. It’s a reason that he came into conflict with, and upset the religious authorities of the time, they resentful of, and threatened by, his obvious influence and authority over the ordinary people, who are already following him in significant numbers, just after he has called his inner circle of apostles, as we heard last week.
As an update to current times, Pope Francis presented 6 ‘modern beatitudes’, on a papal visit to Malmo in Sweden in 2016: “Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart. Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized, and show them their closeness. Blessed are those who see God in every person and who strive to make others also discover him. Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home. Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others. Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.” These thoughts further develop in practical terms the values proclaimed and lived by Jesus, and so, to be lived out by you and me ongoing.
john hannon 1st February 2026