Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time B. September
3 2006. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30.
Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8. James 1: 17-18, 21b-22, 27. Mark 7: 1-8,
14-15, 21-13.
A seven year old young man had just taken his first two
piano lessons. He was very exited about learning to play the piano.
When his mother told him that she had gotten tickets to hear one of the world’s
great pianists, the seven year old could hardly wait. They got to the
concert hall early and his mother left the young man in his seat while she went
to the back of the hall to visit with a friend. Left alone, the boy
wandered and began exploring the great concert hall. He went through a
door marked “Do Not Enter”, not noticing the sign high over his head. All
at once the lights in the great hall dimmed. The curtain went up
and the spot light focused on the big piano in the middle of the
stage. The little boy was sitting on the great piano bench
carefully sounding out the notes to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on
the piano. When the great master pianist walked onto the stage he saw the
boy sitting on the piano bench. He gently reached around the left side of
the boy and placed his hand on the keys and began to play a bass part.
Then he reached his right hand around the boy and began to improvise a melody
to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” all the way up and down the
scale. The little boy put his whole heart into playing the melody one
finger at a time. The great master pianist gave his heart to the boy and
showed his true greatness to the crowd by making the boy look and feel
good. The little boy had broken concert hall rules by going through the
forbidden door onto the stage. The little boy did not yet know the rules
that would make him a great pianist. He had a big and daring heart for a
little boy, but he knew very few rules. The great pianists broke the
professional rules that demanded that he always look good and play
perfectly. He demonstrated that a good and generous heart is even more
important that keeping the rules perfectly. And the audience loved him
for it.
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come form
Rules and commandments are very important. In fact the
Jewish people believed that rules were a great gift from God and a guide post
for a good life. Jesus also taught that rules and commandments are a gift
from God. Yet in today’s gospel Jesus reminds us that when rules are
lived or imposed on others without having the good and generous heart of the
divine lawgiver very destructive and dangerous things may happen.
The Gospel of John gives us some
insight into the mind set of the scribes and Pharisees. The example John
uses is taken straight from the Bible. Moses decreed that a woman caught
in the act of adultery should be stoned to death along with her male
accomplice. Leviticus 20:10 reads, “The man who commits adultery
with another man’s wife will be put to death, both he and the woman.” First
of all the Pharisees were not keeping the whole law for they brought in only
the woman caught in the act of adultery and let the man get away.
The test that they used on Jesus is a very clear one in regard to the
woman. “Scripture says that the woman should be put to death.
What do you say?” Jesus defended the woman by pointing to the sinful
men in the room, and when they all walked away Jesus refused to condemn the
woman, even though the Bible is very clear about what should be
done. Jesus simply says to the woman, “Go and sin no more.”
The purpose of the text in Leviticus is to teach us how very seriously God
takes adultery. Marriage is sacred. Adultery is a very serious
thing. Yet, God never executes the sentence imposed by the law. God is
full of mercy and compassion, especially toward the weak and the sinful.
Knowing the heart of God, Jesus says, “Go and sin no more.”
Because God’s purpose for the
law in Scripture is to lead sinners to life and salvation and not to destroy
them, Jesus saves the woman from death. The Cross of Jesus proclaims
God’s mercy and forgiveness as the supreme law of the kingdom. Unless we
understand the heart of the divine lawgiver, we will never be able to apply the
law and the commandments to ourselves and to others in accordance with the will
of God.
Those who live with no law and
commandments in their lives are dangerous. Their world often dissolves
into selfishness and the reckless pursuit of pleasure. This is not the group
that Jesus is addressing in today’s gospel. Jesus is condemning those who
have the law and obey the law but do not have the mind and heart of God to
guide them.
Religious people have used the
law and the commandments to burn witches and heretics, real or imagined, at the
stake. It would appear that those who have the heart of Christ
would act differently.
Religious people have used the
law and commandments to condemn, persecute or gossip about neighbors, fellow
workers or family members. It would appear that those who have the heart
of Jesus would act differently.
Not only Christians have used
the commandments of God to destroy others without understanding God. In
the Muslim Qur’an there are 99 names for God. Among the names that
describe God for Muslims are “God the most merciful, God the most kind, God
of peace, God the all forgiving, and God the compassionate”. It would seem
that terrorists and suicide bombers are doing what they think God is commanding
without knowing the mind and heart of God as taught by Islam.
We live in a world in which
knowing the commandments without knowing the mind and heart of God is very
dangerous. Jesus’ said, “This people honors me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me.” For the grace to love the
commandments and to live them in union with the heart of Christ we give God
thanks and praise this day.