Tuesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, June 22, 2021

Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

Here, the Lord continues his instructions during the Sermon on the Mount.“Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.”  The Lord Jesus here says for us not to give what is holy to obstinate sinners and to scoffers.  They are “dogs”, which would not profit from “holy things” since they could not tell what is holy from that which is sinful.  They are “swine” in that they would see the “pearls” of the Scriptures cast before them and take this as an assault, causing them to attack viciously.  These “dogs” and “swine” can be converted — if at all — only by long exposure to good example.  

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.”  The Lord sums up the Law and the Prophets in a simple rule of charity.  Since the rule exists as a practical guide for daily living, we need to understand it as pertaining to what is practical and necessary.  Therefore, we do not run around giving hundred dollar bills to strangers because that is what we would have them do to us.  It is not practical to do this, and without knowing a particular set of circumstances, it may not be necessary to do it, either.  This is the literal way of understanding the Lord’s words.  But we can also understand them as describing to us an attitude and readiness for charitable acts which the Lord desires his disciples to have.  Some folks might be stymied in trying to decide if a particular course of action truly accorded with what they would have someone else do for them, but if we understand the Lord as prescribing the attitude or stance of his followers as predisposed to charity, they can evade the trap of seeing this rule in purely objective terms.

“Enter through the narrow gate.”  We might wonder why a gate would be narrow.  It would be narrow to allow only certain animals in a given space and to keep certain animals out.  Even the animals that the gate was designed for would have to struggle to pass through it: “How narrow the gate and constricted the road.”  It is not easy to find, either.  The Lord speaks of the Faith here.  It is “narrow” in that only those who have prayed, fasted, and given alms may pass through it, but once entered, we can say with the Psalmist, “He has set me in a place of pasture. He has brought me to the waters of refreshment” (Psalm 23, 2).  The Lord also warns, “The gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction.”  That is, those who have indulged themselves throughout their lives enter through this wide gate.  While the narrow gate leads to fine pastures, the wide gate leads to the slaughterhouse.  The Lord advises us that “few” find the gate that leads to life, but “many” enter the gate that leads to destruction.  Why is this?  Because few people look for the narrow gate.  That is, many more people choose self-indulgence over the self-sacrifice required for Christian service.  Why does the Lord want us to know that few will be saved in comparison with the many who will not?  To incite us to work harder, to persevere in good works, to not take salvation for granted.