Chapter One: Christ and the Answer to the Question about Morality
Theme:This chapter is a prolonged commentary and meditation on the question asked of Jesus by the rich young man in the gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19:16-21).
Its purpose is "to bring together the essential elements of revelation in the Old and New Testament with regard to moral action" (n. 28). |
Exploration:This chapter is a prolonged meditation on the dialogue between Jesus and the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-21), the dialogue that begins when the rich young man asks Jesus, "Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?" (Mt 19:16).
Principal Ideas Set Forth in Chapter One 1. The Religious and Existential Significance of the Young Man's Question = "for the young man the question is not so much about rules to be followed, but about the meaning of life...the question is ultimately an appeal to the absolute Good which attracts and beckons us; it is the echo of a call from God who is the origin and goal of man's life" (n. 7). = It is "an essential and unavoidable question for the life of every man, for it is about the moral good which must be done, and about eternal life. The young man senses that there is a connection between moral good and the fulfillment of his own destiny" (n. 8). = The question is indeed "a religious question...The goodness that attracts and at the same time obliges man has its source in God and indeed is God himself" (n. 9). 2. The Sovereignty of God over the Moral Order = In responding to the young man's question Jesus makes it clear that its answer "can only be found by turning one's mind and heart to the 'One' who is good....Only God can answer the question about what is good, because he is the Good itself. To ask about the good, in fact, ultimately means to turn towards God, the fullness of goodness " (n.9; cf. nn. 11,12). = "God has already given an answer to this question: he did so by creating man and ordering him with wisdom and love toward his final end through the law inscribed in his heart (cf. Rom 2:15), the 'natural law'...[which] is 'nothing other than the light of understanding infused in us by God, whereby we understand what must be done and what must be avoided. = God gave this light and this law to man at creation' (a citation from St. Thomas), in ten commandments of Sinai....The gift of the Decalogue was a promise and sign of the New Covenant, in which the law would be written in a new and definitive way upon the human heart (cf. Jer 31:31-34), replacing the law of sin which had disfigured that heart (cf. Jer 17:1)" (n. 12). 3. The Essential Link Between Obedience to the Commandments and Eternal Life = Jesus tells young man, "if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mt 19:17). "In this way," the pope says, "a close connection is made between eternal life and obedience to God's commandments: God's commandments show man the path of life and they lead to it. From the very lips of Jesus, man is once again given the commandments of the Decalogue. Jesus himself definitively confirms them and proposes them to us as the way and condition of salvation" (n. 12). = These precepts, John Paul II affirms, are rooted in the commandment that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, a commandment expressing "the singular dignity of the human person, the 'only creature that God has wanted for its own sake'" (n. 13, citing Gaudium et spes, n. 22). = we can love our neighbor and respect his dignity as a person only by cherishing the goods perfective of him and by steadfastly refusing to damage, destroy, or impede these goods. The commandments of which Jesus reminds the young man are meant to safeguard the good of the person, the image of God, by protecting his goods" (n. 13). 4. The "Fulfillment" of the Law in Jesus; the Universal Call to Perfection = In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus stressed that he had not "come to abolish the Law and the Prophets," but rather "to fulfill them" (Mt 5:17); =John Paul says that "Jesus brings the commandments to fulfillment... by interiorizing their demands and by bringing out their fullest meaning..."(n. 15). = there is no separation or opposition between the Beatitudes and the commandments: both refer to the good, to eternal life" (n. 16). They are "above all promises, from which also indirectly flow normative indications for the moral life....they are a sort of self-portrait of Christ...and...invitations to discipleship and to communion of life with Christ" (n. 16). = The moral life, John Paul II emphasizes, means ultimately the following of Christ. But we follow him not by any outward imitation but "by becoming conformed to him who became a servant, even to giving himself on the Cross" (cf. Phil 2:5-8) (n. 21). Following Christ means "holding fast to the very person of Jesus" (n. 19). =The pope insists that the invitation to the rich young man to come and follow Christ (Mt 19:2;1) (n. 19), the summons to be as perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect (cf. Mt 5:48), to "be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36), and the new command to love one another even as Jesus loves us (cf. Jn 15:12) are addressed to everyone (n. 18). 5. Moral Life, the Unity of the Church, and Revelation =John Paul II declares that "no damage must be done to the harmony between faith and life," and then adds: "the unity of the Church is damaged not only by Christians who reject or distort the truths of faith but also by those who disregard the moral obligations to which they are called by the gospel (cf. 1 Cor 5:9-13)" (n. 26). 6. The More-than-human Authority of the Magisterium on Moral Questions = John Paul emphasizes this point by citing Vatican Council II on the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum)... "The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether in its written form or in that of Tradition, has been entrusted only to those charged with the Church's living magisterium, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ" (n. 10; cited in VS, n. 27). |
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