Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B (2024)
Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “…laws are [written] not to change the heart, but to restrain the heartless.” The Rule of Law permeates all aspects of American life.
For example, we have traffic laws that let us know who has the right of way. We have environmental regulations that tell us what we are allowed to put into the ground, air and water. During the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, our lives were impacted by public health restrictions on where and how we can congregate with others.
America’s adherence to the Rule of Law does not mean that our legal system is free from injustice.
At one time in our history, the Rule of Law permitted slavery, promoted segregation, allowed the detention of citizens of Japanese descent during World War II, and denied women the right to vote in Federal elections.
However, despite our legal system's many failings, one of the primary reasons the United States has been admired around the world, through both its triumphs and struggles, has been its respect for the “rule of law.”
We are a nation of laws, a country whose judicial system upholds and enforces those laws. We are all equal under law—from the President to the homeless man living under a bridge.
The rest of the world notices this because the rule of law is absent everywhere. There are many nations around the globe where people do not and cannot have confidence in “the security and preservation of their own rights as citizens.”
Our own State Department lists nearly 2 dozen countries where Americans are warned not to travel, places like Haiti, South Sudan, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela—to name a few.
And so, yes, we should be thankful for the rule of law which exists in our country. But we must remember that the true value of a just society lies not in the laws themselves, but how the law protects the weak, the poor, and the most defenseless among us.
Listen to the words of Moses in today’s First Reading: “Observe God’s commandments carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.” Dt. 4:6-7
Our laws say something about who we are, what we stand for, and what we believe is important. However, if that is the case, then why do . . . . . .
Some well-meaning Christians almost always advocate for military “solutions”, while other well-meaning Christians want to avoid war at all costs?
Some Christians believe we need to help the poor without reservation, while others believe that charity is basically throwing money at problems that are “unsolvable”?
Some Christians believe that contrition on the part of an offender is a prerequisite for forgiveness, while others believe in forgiving others no matter what?
Some Christians believe that people should live modestly and use their resources to better the lives of others, while others believe that it’s perfectly ok to hold on to everything one has earned?
Some Christians believe that other people need to get their act together, while others see a better world beginning with the improvement of themselves?
Some Christians treat every person as an individual, while others see categorizing and pre-judging people as “common-sense”?
Some Christians strive to be compassionate and understanding of others while some are convinced that people with addictions are “weak”, people who mess up are “bad”, other religions are “harmful” or “evil”, and that everyone “has an angle”.
It is not easy to do what we are asked to do in faith. It is no simple task to trust completely in the God who wants to speak to us, and shape us, and motivate us, and transform us into the people he wants us to be.
Instead, it is so tempting to simply embrace our own thoughts and attitudes and desires—to “make up our own rules” to find a way to make our “religion” fit our preconceived ideas, make the “message” we get from these sources match exactly what we wanted it to be in the first place.
Each of us has our own authority. Our own teacher. Our own guide. Our own conscience.
And when we fail to truly listen to our God who is trying to speak to us, when we already “know” what we want that message to be, when we convince ourselves that we will never be able to be the person God wants us to be, sadly, we have become:
“‘People who honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him. We worship God in vain; our teachings merely human rules.” Mk 7: 6-7
And remember, “the driver on the highway is safe not when he reads the signs, he is only safe when he obeys them.” A.W. Tozer