Well, it very quickly becomes evident that, if we are going to get the message of the immediate passage, it would be helpful to see it within its larger context.
Some weeks ago we began Ordinary Time. As we did so, we heard Jesus announcing that He has come to bring about the Kingdom of God.
As February began we started reading from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5.
That is the chapter where Jesus preaches what has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. This is His "inaugural" address. In it He seeks to help us understand what the Kingdom of God looks like and sounds like and feels like.
He also tells us what citizens of that Kingdom should be like and act like.
And He calls us to be citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Looking at the Gospel selection for this weekend, when we hear Jesus taking about surface things that we call sins, we hear Him calling us to go deeper.
The Kingdom of God is definitely NOT a surface thing.
The Kingdom must permeate our whole being.
Have one foot in the Kingdom and another in some second kingdom - impossible.
You are either all in or not at all in!
That's the stuff about what's going on in our hearts as well as our minds. Kingdom has got to guide every part of us.
And as citizens of the Kingdom of God there will be times when we have to admit that we are holding onto something, we have something, we embrace something that really is not of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom must come first and if something else gets in the way, even if once that something was good or even needed, we must let go.
When that happens, we need to say, "Goodbye," "Farewell," "Sayonara!"
There are those times when we have to let go of, get rid of, part with for the sake of the Kingdom.
And those times can be painful, definitely not easy.
Sometimes it may even fell like we are cutting off a part of ur very being.
But, citizens of the Kingdom - the Kingdom comes first and must come first.
But understand the beauty of this whole process.
It sounds like we are ending something, and, indeed we are.
But God is not a God of endings.
God is a God of beginnings. WE need to remember that this is what we believe. This is the source of our hope.
When we end something for the sake of the Kingdom, that invites God to begin something for the sake of the Kingdom.
And we do have to end things from time to time!
If we don't, new things will not begin.
And what also is difficult here is that we do not always understand the mind of God.
When we have to let go, we sort of want right then and there to know - what's next?
And that is not always possible.
God's ways are definitely not our ways.
So we have to trust God and trust that God loves us and wants the best for us.
Next - The Closing Homily: For Example
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