(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: https://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Mass-Blog-for-the-6th-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time-2026.mp3)
Do you live by the letter or the spirit of the law? That’s what Jesus asks us this Sunday. If our standard of righteousness is based on words, we’re no better than the scribes and Pharisees he often criticized. Taking an oath based on words is useless unless we model Jesus, who is the living word of God. He tells us:
“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:17-37)
Our greatest hymns preach this, but so did some of the popular songs of the early 20th century (sung by many, but never better than by Ella Fitzgerald as written by Harold Arlen). One begins:
Gather ’round me, everybody
Gather ’round me while I preach some
Feel a sermon comin’ on me
The topic will be sin
And that’s what I’m agin’
If you wanna hear my story
Then settle back and just sit tight
While I start reviewing
The attitude of doing right!
Doing right IS an attitude. It transcends words. So it makes sense that Harold Arlen was raised in a faith-based tradition. As the son of a Jewish cantor, Arlen also sang in his synagogue choir as a boy. That spirit stayed with him when he entered the adult world and authored some of the most popular numbers in The American Songbook. Some blended jazz and gospel music with elements of the cantorial tradition—even echoing Christ’s teachings. The above verse about the attitude of doing right then goes into the chorus:
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.
Mr. In-Between might as well be another of Satan’s aliases. Neither The Evil One nor his followers can see or reach the affirmative. Affirmation is a standard of living that expresses truth in action. Its spirit is a motivator, not a procrastinator.
Even when St. Paul was a young Saul, he learned in synagogues Christ’s standard of truth in action from the prophet Isaiah. Paul tells us that standard is born of spirit, not of human invention:
What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:6-10)
Here’s the spiritual attitude of doing right that Isaiah taught Saul through his own prayer to God:
Would that you might meet us doing right, that we might be mindful of you in our ways! (Isaiah 64:3-4)
Jesus offers concrete advice about adopting the attitude of doing right in our gospel reading from Matthew (Matthew 5:17-37). Don’t brag that you haven’t killed someone in anger. Anger alone is a dagger of the heart. Don’t boast for having avoided adultery. Lust alone is another way to stab your beloved. Even after divorce, a weaponized heart can continue an assault. Rather, commit your heart to healing others with the simple power of truth.
Doing right is as simple as your heart saying yes or no to each of God’s commandments, as Jesus reminds us. And in Sunday’s first reading, the Jewish sage Ben Sira reassures us that living these commandments will save us. We live them through our choices.
He has set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. (Sirach 15:15-20)
Latch onto the affirmative. Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between. Neutrality is closer to Satan and nowhere near God.
–Tom Andel
Inspiring words, Tom. Following the spirit of the law isn’t vague when that spirit is the Trinity’s Holy Spirit. The trouble begins when, in our humanity, we substitute our own discretion as divine guidance. That’s where we drift into the in-between—rationalizing, delaying, softening what God has made plain. Jesus calls us out of that fog. The Spirit leads us not to clever explanations, but to faithful action. When we let God’s Spirit decide, and truly listen to Him, the path is black and white—and doing right becomes an attitude we live, not a position we argue.
George, your description of how we tend to want things OUR way is the definition of childishness. God wants a child-like spirit, not one that throws tantrums when we don’t get our way. In Chapter 13 of Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians, he writes: “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” Knowing partially is an example of that fog of “In-between” you describe–the fog from which Jesus rescues us so we may present our true self to God.
What a wonderful summary! God wants our HEART! There are no actions, no possessions, no accomplishment that we can achieve that impresses him. It all comes from him anyways! If we lay down ourselves to His holy ways, that is where we find the freedom to achieve true success. It is from this state of grace that we can produce truly good works for the glory of God! Anything else makes us no better than the cursed fig tree. The Jews of Jesus’ time had no shortage of outward rules to save them from God’s wrath (as they saw them), but Jesus made clear, as does your message here Tom, ours is a God of love, not legalism.
Beautifully said, Mike. One lesson we CAN take from legalism is that motive is key to our guilt or innocence. Again, 1 Corinthians 13 puts it beautifully: “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Pure motivation requires accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative in our heart.
Another way Jesus makes clear how being in between is foolish is when he suggests a temperature check. Don’t lukewarm, be either hot or cold.
He doesn’t want any of us riding the fence. He wants us in the game, and if we can’t be all in, get out of the way!