Word to the Wise
Friday, March 20, 2009 - Friday in the Third Week of Lent
[Hosea 14:2-10 and Mark 12:28-34]And when Jesus saw that he [the scribe] answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
Jesus' remarkable statement to the scribe is one I'd love to hear myself! What the scribe had done was to show a sense of what is essential in God's covenant - love of God and love of neighbor! The scribe's statement is startling because he ranks those two commandments as being "worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." I think there's an important message in this. We Catholics belong to a church with many forms of devotional and ministerial expression. Some of these have certain "benefits" attached to them by the church as a way of encouraging the particular activity. Others are simply human kindness done as a matter of Christian faith. Lurking in the background of consciousness or even of conscience is the little voice that says, "God requires that you EARN divine love. So you'd better be good to your neighbor!" In other minds there may be the voice that says, "It's easier just to go to church and be devout than it is to tolerate people I can't stand. Surely God will understand and cut me some slack!" All this bargaining is, as Ecclesiastes would say, "chasing after wind." God loves us no matter what, but that love cannot be separated from love of neighbor. It would be like trying to cut off one side of a coin! Jesus clearly teaches that forgiveness of one another is a part of God's forgiveness of US. When the scribe showed his "understanding" of this, Jesus tells him he is not far from the Kingdom of God (perhaps ironically because the guy is standing right in front of Jesus). It's one thing to know the priorities, it's another to live them out in practice. So, the scribe still has "work" to do! If by hearing this gospel story today, we find ourselves "listening in" on Jesus' conversation with that scribe, perhaps we might conclude that we have work to do also! AMEN
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