28th Week, Wednesday, Oct 13
Romans 2:1-11 / Luke 11:42-46
Paul discusses Christian responsibility; We are accountable to God.
Phyllis McGinley writes in her book Saint-Watching: “When I was seven years old, I wanted to be a tight-rope dancer and broke my collarbone practising on a child's-size high wire. At twelve I planned to become an international spy. At fifteen my ambition was the stage. Now in my sensible declining years, I would give anything ... to be a saint.” McGinley's words return us to the basics of human existence. They underscore the same important point that Paul underscores in today's reading: This life is not our ultimate destination; it's only the road leading to it.
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Do we believe “Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal”? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "Life is simple, but people insist on making it complicated.”. Confucius
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Paul warns his Romans that they may not conduct themselves like the pagans, whose scandalous behaviour he has just denounced. But all are called to conversion, whether of pagan or Jewish origin. For God shows no partiality.
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The word scribe means secretary. Since the only important book was the Bible, it came to mean one who is a Bible expert, a theologian. Even this meaning was narrowed down to mean a teacher of the law. We understand the Bible as salvation history. The scribes found in it only the laws. They were only interested in the laws contained in the five books of Moses. At the time of Jesus, they were a closely-knit group, who had studied in the same school. In their discussions on the meaning and application of the law, they went on adding to the law. Their interpretation of the law became laws. Many of these scribes became Pharisees, a group of people that made the meticulous outward observance of the law their life's work. The scribes were the scholars, not the Pharisees. Jesus accused the scribes of being proud, selfish, insincere, and of not practising what they preach. It is their ideas, no more God's law, what they preach.
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We know we should not judge others lest we ourselves be judged. That is what Jesus taught us. So what exactly is meant by judging others? Because there are times when we are not too sure if giving an opinion is already coming close to giving a judgement. In the biblical understanding, judgement is about a person's spiritual and moral condition. It is not so much about a person's actions but rather about the person's essence, his very being.
So, to say that someone is evil, or that he is malicious, or that he is selfish may mean that we are saying that is his very being, that is his very essence. That is tantamount to putting a judgement on the spiritual and moral condition of that person. We can only judge the actions, but we cannot judge the person's spiritual and moral condition.
The 1st reading tells us that no matter who we are, if we pass judgement, then we have no excuse. Because a person's spiritual and moral condition is between that person and God, and we have no right to make any judgement about it.
Even in the gospel, Jesus judged the actions of the Pharisees but He didn't say that they were evil or malicious or devious. But whether it is about the character of a person or about his actions, let us refrain from making judgements. Let us act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God. That is what we must do.
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It is surprising that Jesus could cure all ills – the blind, the deaf, lepers, yes, and also sinners aware of their failures. But he could not cure Pharisees and scribes from their “open-eyed” blindness. Jesus does perhaps not attack them so much for their literal observance of the last detail of the law but for getting so absorbed by the details of the law that they did not see the roots of all laws, justice and love. This is also the key teaching of Paul in his letter to the Galatians: not laws but the Spirit.
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Opening Prayer
Lord our God, your Son Jesus was the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. He knew and taught and lived that the fulfilment of the Law and the promises lies in the service of people and of you in justice and love. Let these too be the guides of our lives, that with him we seek people and above all the living person of you, our God forever and ever. Amen
