Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 4, 2020 - Thursday in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Tim 2:8-15 and Mark 12:28b-34]The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is not other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he siad to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." [Mark]
I remember an amusing anecdote about a theology teacher who once said to his class, probably without realizing how it sounded, "As Jesus said....and rightly so!" The scribe in this scene is not looking at Jesus with the same eyes of faith that we do. Jesus was, to him, one among other "teachers." His dialogue with Jesus would have been a common interaction. Scribes were considered the experts in the Law of Moses. What sets this scribe apart is the priority he gives to the 613 precepts in that law. Jesus' response is basically, "You're headed in the right direction...." One might call the encounter a "teachable moment."
In my own pastoral experience, either in campus ministry or itinerant preaching, I have met a number of folks who have a terrific knowledge of all the traditions and rules of Catholicism, some of them not even Catholic! What seems missing in their "faith" is the priority that Jesus approves. Occasionally I learn that what is keeping the non-Catholics in this group from becoming a Catholic or Christian at all is our failure to demonstrate our commitment to the priority that Jesus approves!! And from those who are Catholic-by-baptism, I learn, especially from students, that rigid enforcement of rules and regulations concerning customs from of old has "turned them off" on our wonderful tradition. In this regard it is helpful to see earlier in the Gospel According to Mark 7:7-8: "You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition." Learning the difference between the two is an important "step in the right direction." AMEN