Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

Lectionary: 450

To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

When I hear the first proverb in today's reading. I think of the Virgin Mary, who appears in today's second reading. With the second verse, I think of my harangues about those who regard their own opinions as infallible simply because it's how they feel. Have I written a harangue about the third verse? 

I've often recommended to my readers -- and hopefully to my own stony heart -- the readiness to make sacrifice, and even to do so courageously. I heard a grade school teacher say that if she wasn't acting courageously she wasn't doing her job. She spoke for all of us. Folk wisdom, if not common sense, says we must be willing to go the extra mile and lend without expecting repayment if we would accomplish anything. 

But today's third proverb goes beyond the suggestions of sacrificing and acting boldly. Our works must also be "right and just." 

So long as I get to choose what sacrifice I make, and how I might act boldly, there is something suspicious about my action. Where is it coming from? Whom does it serve? 

Feminist spirituality has rightly challenged my male assumption, that I cannot trust myself, for women are often told that. Women who read the challenge I issue to people like me might balk; they have always been urged to sacrifice for others and surrender their initiative to those of their parents, husbands, and children. I respect that objection, though I am not sure where to take the reflection from here. 

Doing the right and just thing is rarely obvious. If it is for a major decision, it should be all the more suspect. 

I sometimes refer back to my own original reading of the Fall in Eden. (An interpretation which again is suspect because it's my own. I've never come across this in traditional literature. Caveat emptor!) 

The Lord told Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then drove them out of Paradise because, they had "become like us, knowing good and evil" His motive, in the same verse, is that they might eat of the other tree and live forever. 

But, the unhappy couple sampled the tree only once; their knowledge of good and evil is far from infallible. Had they and their children remained to snack on that forbidden tree daily, not only would we be utterly insufferable, we would also have no need for God's Guiding Holy Spirit. We would be Wise! If I could eat of that tree I could tell you how to vote, what food to eat for breakfast, and what's wrong with the way you tie your shoe! 

(I know some people who act as if they have eaten of it!)

But, ignorant as we are, with only a very fallible sense of right and wrong, and with a long, unfortunate history of guessing wrong, we need Guidance from Above. And not just once in a while. 

But we need more than that. We also need what God so wants to give, which is intimacy with God. And the LORD is so disappointed that we so often decline the offer. 

Those who receive the Spirit of Jesus, living in and breathing with it daily, have a deeper understanding of God's intent. They are like the spouse who can predict their partner's reactions and responses to any given question. That sense is not infallible but it is reliable. And given the willingness to be reviewed, challenged, and criticized by other disciples of Jesus, they move forward with confidence. 

Intimacy with God is worth far more than sacrifice. It is a treasure found in a field, a pearl of great price.