Franciscan Penance Library

THE LAW OF EXCESS

Another important principle of Christianity which Professor Joseph Ratzinger discusses in Part II of Introduction to Christianity he calls the “law of excess or superfluity”.  In the ethical statements of the New Testament, there is a  tension that looks as if it cannot be resolved: the tension between grace and ethos, between total forgiveness and just  as total a demand on man, between the complete endowment of man, who has everything showered upon him because he can achieve nothing, and the equally complete obligation to give himself, an obligation that culminates in the unheard-of demand, "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). How can we, who are so weak and sinful and require so much mercy and forgiveness from God, also be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”?

Professor Ratzinger next tells us where the solution lies. When, confronted with this upsetting polarity, one looks for a connecting link, one comes across again and again, especially in Pauline theology, but also in the first three Gospels, the word "excess", in which the talk of grace and that of demands meet and merge. To look further into this, Professor Ratzinger refers to the Sermon on the Mount.  “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:20). This statement means, first of all, that all human righteousness is dismissed as inadequate. Who could honestly boast of having really and unreservedly, in the depths of his soul, absorbed the full meaning of the individual demands and of having carried them out, completely fulfilled them in all their profundity, let alone fulfilled them to excess? True, there exists in the church a "state of perfection", in which one undertakes to go beyond what is commanded, to go to excess. But those who belong to it would be the last to deny that for this very reason they are always finding themselves at the beginning again and full of deficiencies. The "state of perfection" is in reality the most dramatic depiction of the abiding imperfection 'of man. Those who are the closest to the Lord realize more fully than the rest of us how far away they are from “perfection”.

Anyone not satisfied with this reference has only to read the next few verses of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:21-48) to find himself exposed to a terrifying 'examination of conscience. In these paragraphs it becomes clear what it means when one takes really seriously the principles, at first sight apparently so simple, of the second table of the Decalogue, three of which are expounded here: "You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not bear false witness." At first glance it seems quite easy to feel righteous about these things. After all, one has not killed anyone; one has not broken one's marriage vows; one has not committed perjury. But as Jesus illuminates the depths of these demands, it becomes evident that man shares in these sins through anger, hatred, failure to forgive, envy, and covetousness. It becomes clear how very much man in his apparent righteousness is besmirched with what goes to make the unrighteousness of the world.  Jesus in the gospels teaches us how far we really are from living up to the His demand to be perfect.

To the Bible, the limits of human righteousness, of human capabilities as a whole, become an indication of the way in which man is thrown back upon the unquestioning gift of love, a gift that unexpectedly opens itself to him and thereby opens up man himself, and without which man would remain shut up in all his "righteousness" and thus unrighteous. Only the man who accepts this gift can come to himself. Thus the proved speciousness of man's "righteousness" becomes at the same time a pointer to the righteousness of God, the excess of which is called Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God, which goes far beyond what' need be, which does not calculate, which really overflows; the "notwithstanding" of his greater love, in which he infinitely surpasses the failing efforts of man. Our excessive unrighteousness can only be overcome by God’s excess of gifts (grace) which come from Jesus Christ.

Professor Ratzinger, however, emphasizes that we need to respond to God’s Grace.  Nevertheless, it would be a complete misunderstanding of the whole to deduce from this a devaluation of man and to feel inclined to say: "Then it is all the same anyway, and any attempt to attain righteousness or esteem in God's eyes is pointless." To this we must reply, "Not at all." In spite of everything and, indeed, just because of what we have just considered: the requirement to have an excess holds good, even if one can never attain full righteousness. But what is this supposed to mean? Is it not a contradiction? Well, it means, in short, that he who is always calculating how much he must do to be just adequate and to be able to regard himself, after a few casuistical flicks, as a man with a nice, white shirtfront, is still no Christian. And similarly, he who tries to reckon where duty ends and where he can gain a little extra merit by an opus supererogatorium (work of supererogation) is a Pharisee, not a Christian. Being a Christian does not mean duly making a certain obligatory contribution and perhaps, as an especially perfect person, even going a little farther than is required for the fulfillment of the obligation. On the contrary, a Christian is someone who knows that in any case he lives first and foremost as the beneficiary of a bounty and that, consequently, all righteousness can only consist in being himself a donor, like the beggar who is grateful for what he receives and generously passes part of it on to others. The calculatingly righteous man, who thinks he can keep his own shirtfront white and build himself up inside it, is the unrighteous man. Human righteousness can only be attained by abandoning one's own claims and being generous to man and to God. It is the righteousness of "Forgive, as we have forgiven"---this request turns out to be the proper formula of human righteousness as understood in the Christian sense: it consists in continuing to forgive, since man himself lives essentially on the forgiveness he has received himself.  

We need to understand the excessive extent of God’s gifts to us. Professor Ratzinger explains it further.   But-when it is studied in the New Testament, the theme of excess leads up another path where its meaning first becomes completely clear. We find the word occurring again in connection with the miracle of the loaves, where an "excess" of seven baskets is mentioned (Mk 8:8 par.). It forms an essential factor in the story of the multiplication of the loaves and is to be connected with the idea of the superfluous, of the more than necessary. One immediately recalls a related miracle preserved in the Johannine tradition: the changing of water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana (Jn 2:1-11). It is true that the word "excess" does not occur here, but the fact certainly does: according to the evidence of the Gospel, the new-made wine amounted to between 130 and 190 gallons, a somewhat unusual quantity for a private banquet! In the evangelists' view, both stories have to do with the central form of Christian worship, the Eucharist. They show it as the divine excess or abundance, which infinitely surpasses all needs and legitimate demands. 

 In this way both stories are concerned, through their reference. to the Eucharist, with Christ himself and ultimately refer back to him: Christ is the infinite self-expenditure of God. ……. Excess is God's trademark in his creation; as the Fathers put it, "God does not reckon his gifts by the measure." At the same time excess is also the real foundation and form of salvation history, which in the last analysis is nothing other than the truly breathtaking fact that God, in an incredible outpouring of himself, expends not only a universe but his own self in order to lead man, a speck of dust, to salvation. So excess or superfluity-let us repeat-is the real definition or mark of the history of salvation. The purely calculating mind will always find it absurd that for man God himself should be expended. Only the lover can understand the folly of a love to which prodigality is a law and excess alone is sufficient. Yet if it is true that the creation lives from excess or superfluity, that man is a being for whom excess is necessity, how can we wonder that revelation is the superfluous and for that very reason the necessary, the divine, the love in which the meaning of the universe is fulfilled? This is how the tension between man’s great weakness and God’s just demands on us can be resolved.  God has given us “excessive” gifts, culminating in Jesus Christ himself in the Eucharist, simply because we need this excess. We need, however, to use His gifts.

 --James Nugent, CFP