Memorial of Pope Saint John XXIII

Thursday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 464

Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?

"Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" Chico Marx asked Margaret Dumont. In the verse above, Saint Paul uses a similar argument in his argument with the Galatians. Do you invest your hope for salvation in conformity to the law or what you have experienced by your faith in Jesus Christ? 

The Law of Moses was, and remains, an enormous gift. There is simply no human life without the law. Can you imagine trying to drive on the highway without everyone's agreeing to drive (in the United States) on the right side of the highway? That conformity is not simply obedience to a superior authority, it's common sense.

From their earliest memories in the Sinai Desert the Jews thanked God for their escape from oppression in Egypt and their gratitude for the Law. God delivered then from the man-made laws which favored the privileges of the powerful and taught them his laws which cared for everyone from the least to the greatest. The Law of Moses provided for widows, orphans and the aliens among us; it insisted that the poorest should be treated equally with the wealthiest. Judges should neither show favor nor accept a bribe. You might think your judgement is not skewed by a bribe, but don't take one anyway! 

The Law of Moses covered both the moral/ethical standards of the community and the requirements of religious observance. Not any ritual will satisfy the Lord, but only those which the Lord has taught us. The Law described the temple and the altar, the clothing of the priests, the vessels and the sacrificial offerings. Not much was left to chance. 

Given all that close detail and the inevitable changes through centuries of upheaval, authorized experts had to determine what would please the Lord -- and they became as oppressive as the former Egyptian slavers. Jesus rightly complained about the control of the Pharisees whose stifling hegemony in Jerusalem could not extend throughout Jewish world, from India to Europe and North Africa. 

The passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the birth of the Church called for a complete reformulation of the faithful life. The Church would not belong to any ethnic group, nationality or race. It would receive disciples from the arctic to the tropics, wearing different clothing, eating different foods and speaking different languages. The only thoroughly unifying principle of this vast new Church would be faith in Jesus Christ, the conviction that He is Lord, God and Savior. 

But the old religious ways did not surrender easily. As Jews came to believe in Jesus many would not quit being Jews; they retained their scrupulous observance of all the old customs, and then insisted that their gentile brethren should do the same. The men should even be circumcised! 

Saint Paul saw no point to that, and recognized great danger in it. Circumcision would obviate the need for faith. Mere observance of the Law seemed to assure salvation even to men and women who maintained their old racist, nativist attitudes. It made membership too easy, for the circumcision of the heart is far more radical than the circumcision of the flesh. 

Coming to Jesus meant making one's own the Sacrifice of Isaac, surrendering even as God surrenders more than one can afford, one's very self. Just as God would not be satisfied with Abraham's suicide but demanded the killing of "your only son whom you love," so must the Christian surrender his needs, desires, preferences, opinions, convictions and beliefs. Belonging to Jesus one is neither black nor white, native or alien, gay or straight, law-abiding or criminal, male or female, Republican or Democrat. Clinging to any of these pseudo-identities is infidelity. Rather, like Jesus, you must embrace all of these identities as your own! 

For freedom Christ set us free, Saint Paul will state in Galatians 5. We are continually astonished by the range of our new freedom -- and its demands.