Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - Tuesday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Macc 6:18-31 and Luke 19:1-10]Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat, and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture, as people ought to do who have the courage to reject the food which it is unlawful to taste even for love of life. Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately, because of their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing, such as he could legitimately eat, and to pretend to be eating some of the meat of the sacrifice prescribed by the king; in this way he would escape the death penalty, and be treated kindly because of their old friendship with him. But Eleazar made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he has lived from childhood; and so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God. [2 Maccabees]
For the past week or so, the first scriptures for weekday Eucharist have come from the two Books of the Maccabees. These books recount the story of Israel under the successors to Alexander the Great's generals who divided up his empire after his death and imposed Greek customs and culture in Israel. There was considerable resistance to this and ultimately led to a rebellion that overturned the Greek hegemony. But before that happened, there were efforts to compel Jews to violate the Mosaic Law. It was during this time that the Pharisees came into being as a reaction to the Greek ways. Earlier, we heard the story of the seven brothers who were martyred. Today we hear the story of one of the elders, a scribe named Eleazar.
The story of Eleazar, in particular, has always moved me for two reasons. The first reason is personal faith and integrity. He not only refused to violate the law, but he saw that law as part of himself and would not violate his integrity. Nor would he pretend to do so to escape death. The second reason is the witness that he would be giving. His entire life was one of fidelity. Why should he pretend to violate that fidelity and give bad example to others?
The kind of compromise Eleazar faced is common, especially in political life, but also in daily life. I have heard many a student speak to the challenges that peer pressure presents to violate their own integrity or even pretend to do so in order that "face" can be saved or one may escape peer disapproval or mockery. The erosion of integrity can be slow and hardly noticeable until one realizes, maybe in a dramatic fall, what one has given up. Political life in our country gives us many daily examples of this, but we have our own personal experiences of little compromises that build to big moral destruction. The stories of Christian martyrs are familiar to us, but Eleazar and the seven brothers speak loudly. What compromises are we making that erode our faith and integrity? AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
99 ms
4
