Cub Scouts – learn to tie knots, be polite and responsible
Camping – living outdoors – not separated from some of the harsh realities of nature – cold, rain, and bugs.
You learn how to dress properly – so that when its cold or rain – you remain comfortable.
But it is the bugs and insects that are the worst – something about camping and insects reminds me of today’s Gospel.
When you are in your tent at night, and you have an electric light or lantern on inside, you do not open your tent to the outside – not even for a second, because the moment you open it – all those bugs.
Impossible to get rid of them – have to sweat inside of your sleeping bag till morning.
It reminds me of the Gospel because of the warnings.
Jesus quotes some of the 10 Commandments:
5th Commandment – Thou shall not kill – but Jesus says whoever is angry with his brother is already guilty of sin.
6th Commandment – Thou shall not commit adultery – but Jesus says those who think impure thoughts have already committed a sin against this commandment.
Jesus could have gone through all ten if he wished …
We can sometimes be tempted to indulge in some interior thoughts and think that that there is no sin because there is no external action.
But no, these thoughts are like opening the tent at night – even if just for a moment – and all the bugs that come in are like the evil coming into us when we indulge in these thoughts.
Jesus first uses the example of anger – we know that anger is rarely just a passing thought – it consumes us because it satisfies our ego – everyone is wrong except me – boosts our self-satisfaction.
When it comes to impurity and things like pornography – the image of the tent serves doubly. Sometimes we think that just peek won’t hurt – and so we open up that tent real quick – but still all those evil critters come in and they are hard to get rid of. And so one often commits further sin – all stemming from that first peek.
Jesus says that our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees – righteousness means right living – our moral life.
The Pharisees, of course, were focused on the external observance of the law, while interiorly and perhaps in the privacy of their own homes things were up for grabs.
Privacy can be a dangerous thing – it is the chief argument for the legalized killing of unborn children.
Our private lives – what is going on in our thoughts, and what we do in the privacy of our own home or room is what Jesus wants us to work on.
This is why he says elsewhere – that we should pray in the privacy of our room for no one else to see except you and God.
And so when it comes to our moral lives – so that our righteousness exceeds that of those who focus on the external – we have to be like smart scouts who want to keep the bugs out of their tents – and so keep our thoughts closed to evil and filth.
All sins, all evil actions begin with an evil thought, it begins in the mind and we must be on guard against it. As the scouts know – it only takes a spark to get a fire going – the same is true with even a small evil thought – it can grow and grow and can become consuming.
“Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard … what God has prepared for those who love him”
Let us keep our thoughts on what is good, true, and eternal rather than let our minds be filled with what turns us away from God.
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