Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21/ 1 Corinthians 2:6-10/ Matthew 5:17-37
In the month of February, there is one particular day when the prices of certain things will go up.
The price of flowers will go up, especially that species called roses.
Having a meal on that day in a classy restaurant will probably burn holes in your pocket. The number of marriages on that day will also be exceptionally higher.
That day that we are talking about is the 14th February, which is also Valentine’s Day.
Last Friday, the 14th February, which is Valentine’s Day, a record number of 243 couples in Singapore tied the knot, the highest in five years, according to the Registry of Marriages.
So having a wedding dinner on that day is going to be costly. And buying flowers, especially roses, for your beloved is also going to be costly.
In short, love is costly. Falling in love is costly. Staying in love is also costly.
There is this joke about a woman who woke on the morning of Valentine’s Day and said to her husband: Hubby, I just dreamt that you gave me a diamond necklace for Valentine’s Day. What do you think it means?
The husband replied: You will know later today.
So in the evening when the husband came back from work, he gave a small package to his wife.
Delighted, she opened it. In that package was a book entitled “The meaning of dreams”.
Moving on from jokes and dreams, we come to some serious teachings from Jesus in today’s gospel passage.
He began by telling His disciples that if their virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, they will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
The scribes and the Pharisees make a big deal about keeping the laws and commandments. So, as long as one doesn’t kill or steal or commit adultery or break an oath, then one can go to heaven already, or at least almost there. That was what they say.
But now Jesus is telling us something more, something deeper and also something higher.
As it is, killing or murder is already the far end – it is forbidden!
And we don’t even go there. For some of us, killing a cockroach or a lizard is traumatic enough and we can lose sleep over it.
But getting angry at others and keeping that anger and letting it burn and boil within us seems to be one of our favourite pastimes.
And we let that anger boil and burn into resentment and bitterness and even hatred.
It’s like drinking poison and hoping that the other person will die.
And it’s like cutting yourself with a knife and hoping that the other person will bleed in pain.
We somehow know it is ridiculous and futile. And Jesus has to tell us that it is ridiculous and futile.
Our anger is not killing anyone; it is only killing ourselves. And Jesus wants to save us from that.
And neither do we go around committing adultery just like that. Certainly not!
But how about flirting? And there is a new form of flirting called “sexting”.
It is about the exchanging of saucy sexually explicit messages and images with another person using mobile phones.
Such forms of flirting have harmed marital relationships and marriages have broken down because of that.
We have this notion that if we are not caught then it is not wrong.
But we also forget that what is done in the dark will be brought into the light, sooner or later.
Again Jesus wants to free us from this kind of improper and immoral relationships. He wants us to live in the freedom of the light and not in the darkness of fear.
Jesus tells us that whatever is causing us to sin, we have to cut it out. It would be better for us to cut off that sinful thing than to go to hell with everything.
There is this story about the big boys of the Information Technology who came for a meeting and they began to brag.
Wikipedia said: I know everything. Google said: I have everything. Facebook said: I know everybody. Internet said: Without me you are nothing. Sitting at one corner, Electricity said: Talk some more, talk some more …
Well we know what has been said. We have also learnt how it was said – thou shall not kill, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not bear false witness.
Today we hear something more from Jesus. He is telling us this: If your virtue goes no deeper than what is said, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
In other words, our love for God and for others must go deeper than just not killing, or not committing adultery or not telling lies.
Our love for God and for others must make us strive for forgiveness and reconciliation, for purity and holiness, for truth and beauty.
And this brings us back to the story of Valentine’s Day and the person behind it – St. Valentine.
He was a priest who lived during the 3rd century, and at that time the Roman emperor forbade marriages because he wanted the young men to join the army, as he had this thinking that unmarried soldiers would be better soldiers as they would not have to think about their wives or children.
But St. Valentine secretly officiated marriages for Christian couples who wanted to get married.
Well, he was caught and thrown into prison and tortured. But he forgave his tormentors and while in prison he even prayed for and healed the jailer’s daughter from her blindness.
Before he was executed, he sent a note to that jailer’s daughter, urging her to be pure and holy, and to speak the truth always.
He signed off that note with the famous words – From your Valentine.
Today we also heard from our Valentine. Jesus loves us and He wants us to strive for the higher virtues of love – forgiveness and reconciliation, purity and holiness, truth and beauty.
Yes, love is costly, falling in love is costly, staying in love is costly.
But Jesus paid the price on the cross for loving us. May we listen to what He is telling us and put it into action.