The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, October 26th: Exodus 22:20-26; 1Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40)

GOD’S LAW IS SIMPLE

If there’s one thing we human beings love, it’s rules and regulations. Oh, we may not admit it openly. We may proclaim that rules and regulations are oppressive and people should be free to “do their own thing.” But even the most radical non-conformists in our culture—the average college professor comes to mind—hold to a very strict code of conduct.

It’s called Political Correctness, and woe to whoever has the gall to express an unapproved thought in this supposedly open-minded and free-spirited environment. (By “unapproved thought,” I mean dangerous ideas such as the notion that God might be real, the traditional family arrangement might be the best way to raise kids, or certain behaviors might be morally superior to other behaviors.)

Everyone is free to “do their own thing”—just as long as they dress, speak, and most importantly, think exactly alike. I recently saw a half-dozen college students being interviewed on TV. They wore the exact same black clothes; the exact same weird make-up and green streaks in their hair; the exact same pierced ears, noses, eyebrows, and tongues; and the exact same tattoos on their necks. When the reporter asked why they dressed that way, one of them proudly declared, “To be different, man!”

So, if those in society who identify themselves as non-conformists are really deep-down clinging to a strict set of rules and regulations, what does that say about the rest of us who openly acknowledge that rules and regulations are necessary in a civilized world? Well, have you ever spent any time in the corporate environment, or worse yet, in the maze of bureaucracy known as government? There are rules explaining how to follow the rules. There are regulations on how to enforce the regulations. We have thousands and thousands of highly-paid people who spend each day trying to think up new rules and regulations.

If you think government agencies and businesses are up to their eyeballs in rules and regulations, that’s nothing compared to organized religions. People who believe in God feel compelled to spell out exactly how to be in a proper relationship with God. Sometimes it can run thousands of pages and multiple volumes. For example, the Catholic Code of Canon Law makes War and Peace look like a pamphlet. (Overheard in a CCD classroom: Student: “What does it mean to be Catholic?” Teacher: “It means we’re Christians, except with a lot more rules.”)

I remember reading in the newspaper many years ago about a Pennsylvania-based religious order that was thrilled to know that their founder, Katherine Drexel, who died in 1955, had moved another step closer to sainthood. A five-member team in Rome made a decision about a miraculous healing of a child in 1993, which many attribute to “Mother Katherine.” At that point, the next step was for a special board of theologians to convene and consider whether the healing was truly the result of prayer to Katherine and her subsequent intercession. After that, the Congregation for the Cause of Saints in Rome, a body of bishops and cardinals, needed to meet, do an investigation, and make a final recommendation to the Pope.

When I read that article, I thought: Hey fellas, has anyone noticed that there’s a severe priest shortage these days? Wouldn’t those dozens and dozens of priests-turned-bureaucrats (on just this one case!) better serve the Church if they minister to the needs of, say, living people rather than creating tons of paperwork about dead people? Isn’t the Church’s mission to create saints TODAY, rather than wrangling over minutiae about the saints of yesterday? (By the way, Katherine made it through the bureaucratic maze successfully, and finally was canonized St. Katherine Drexel about eight years ago.)

In this week’s gospel reading, the Pharisees (who were that generation’s undisputed champions of excessive rules, regulations, and religious bureaucracy) tried to trick Jesus by asking, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Now, they weren’t just referring to the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God many centuries earlier. By the time Jesus and the Pharisees were facing off with each other, the Jewish law had been expanded to 613 distinct commandments, with 248 being affirmative (“You must do…”) and 365 being negative (“You must not do…”).

If Jesus had selected one particular command out of the list of 613, He immediately would’ve faced 612 arguments as to why His choice was wrong. So Jesus took the issue to a higher plane, stunning His adversaries by defining the two fundamental principles upon which all the other rules and regulations were built.

Jesus said the entire law and the prophets, all the hundreds of rules and regulations, can be boiled down to two simple commands: love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s it. Just two. You could put the whole Code of Canon Law on a business card. It’s so simple it could make career bureaucrats in Rome break down in tears.

Now, of course, since we are human, since we are sinful, we need guidelines and limits. We need some rules and regulations to keep civilization from dissolving into chaos. Rules are necessary, but they are not an end unto themselves.

Jesus’ message this week is that we should be guided by the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. There’s something wrong when we are seeking help about a spiritual problem and the ordeal reminds us of trying to get a building permit at City Hall or registering a car at the Motor Vehicle office.

God’s law is simple. It’s based on love. He created the universe and humanity because of His abounding love. All we need to do is love Him and love His other creations. It’s that incredibly simple. Only a bureaucrat could mess it up.

©2008