Reflection on Mt 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
On the evening before His death, Jesus emphasized: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.” Many commandments are part of the Sermon on the Mount, which opens with the eight Beatitudes. Jesus touches on an issue that is extremely topical today, namely moral purity. He says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The Lord, through Moses, gave people the Sixth and Ninth Commandments of the Decalogue. Jesus speaks here as the supreme Lawgiver, saying: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you…” When a judge promulgates a law, he does so in the name of political authority and power, such as a kingdom or republic. Being God, Jesus promulgates moral laws by His own divine authority. He Himself says that He did not come to destroy but to fulfil the essence of what had already been given by God in the Old Testament before His coming. Jesus now clarifies the question of purity, and says: “Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” He points out that the sin of adultery has its beginning in the eye and in the consent of the heart. In the following verse, therefore, He gives instructions on how to resist sin. He speaks of two radical steps: “cut it off” and “throw it away”. It is not about doing it physically, but rather it is a radical inner step of separating our heart from a vision, emotion or thought. Today, we are witnesses to purposeful pornographic propaganda which is imposed on people through the internet, on billboards, in films. Even young children are purposefully being enslaved by the vice of lustful desire. This is aimed to cause man’s inner corruption, to enslave him, to destroy the institution of marriage, and ultimately the unclean demon seeks to damn the soul in hell.
Jesus says that we will give account in the day of judgment for every idle word we speak. But this is also true here. We will give account in the day of judgment for every impure look we fail to cut off, i.e. identify with it and not break with it. In certain situations, our thoughts – whether good or bad – may turn into actions, good or bad. It is therefore necessary not to accept the thinking of the world, which is full of perversion, impurity and evil, but on the contrary, to undergo a true metanoia, a change of thinking, and accept the Gospel of Christ and its commandments, including the one about purity. Jesus says: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good (simple), your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” (Mt 6:22)
Download: Reflection on Mt 5:27-28
