2 Cor 4:7-15 / Matthew 5:27-32
Let us imagine someone taking up a book. He then rips off the cover of the book and keeps the cover and throws away the rest of the book.
Or if we give someone a present and the person carefully unwraps the present, keeps the wrapping paper and then throws away the present.
That sounds absurd isn't it? Who in the right mind would do that kind of thing?
So obviously, it takes a not-so-right mind to do absurd things. And it takes a person with a not-so-right mind to look at another person lustfully and have impure thoughts.
So what Jesus is saying in the gospel is that there are people who just get so absorbed with the cover and the wrapper and they don't bother what is inside a person.
In other words, they fascinate over the outside and throw away the inside.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul reminds us that we are only just earthenware jars but holding a treasure that belongs to God.
That also reminds us that man is fashioned of dust from the soil (Gen 2:7). So in almost all sense of the word, we are humble and breakable earthenware jars.
But let us remember that we contain the treasures of God in our hearts. So may we look at the treasures of God in each person, and not to fascinate over the cover or wrapper and forget about the gift.