For the fourth Sunday in a row our gospel finds Jesus in serious dialogue with the Pharisees. He seems to be having a hard time getting through to these Pharisees but again and again he patiently listens to them, using what they say to try and redirect the focus of their faith. The Pharisees always seem to get a bad rap in scripture but, in all honesty, they were good people. People just like you and me trying hard to live their faith as they understood it and “as they understood it” seems to be the root of their problem.

The Pharisees believed they were a special people set apart by God to live a lifestyle in accordance with the law or the Ten Commandments handed down by Moses as well as the full traditional law of their Jewish community. Believe it or not in the Jewish Tradition of the time they had some 613 laws to be lived in their daily lives. 248 of them were "do’s" and 365 of them were "don’ts". It literally consumed every waking minutes of their day. Can we even imagine trying to live our lives in this way? For them religion had simply become a bunch of do’s and don’ts.

This begs an interesting question for each of us. Is this how we see our religion? Simply a bunch of "do’s" and "don’ts", because if we do, we are still living pre-Vatican II theology and still believe our salvation comes through our own efforts and those of the church. A Christian comedian from days gone by tried to simplify this for us. He said in one breath “Christianity is not a bunch of do’s and don’ts it is just a bunch of do’s because if your are busy doing the do’s you won’t have time to do the don’ts”. Even a basic study of scripture shows us Jesus was not a “do” and “don’t” kind of guy as He never spoke about “don’ts”, he only spoke and taught about the “do’s”.

We cannot really blame the poor Pharisees or ourselves for that matter, for trying to prioritize and determine which of these “do’s” and “don’ts” were the most important. “Which commandment in the law is the greatest” they asked Jesus. Jesus did not see this so much as a trap as he did a plea for help and a release from the burden of trying to live these 613 separate laws every day. It was an incredible burden, an impossible task geared towards failure. Yet, for the most part the same is true of us today.

Vatican II suggests our morality does not come from the church but rather it comes through the church and each of us is responsible to develop our own morality through the teachings of the church. In Jesus’ response to the Pharisee’s and to us he said nothing “they” and “we” have not heard a thousand times before. To love God and to love our neighbour were basic teachings of the early Jewish community as it is a basic teaching of our own Catholic community. The Pharisee’s had asked for one law, the most important one but instead Jesus gave them two. What is unique in the response of Jesus is that he drew a parallel between these two laws - loving God and Loving neighbour and in doing so makies them of equal importance and inseparable suggesting there is no such thing as a “Lone Ranger” follower of God.

This concept would have been bran new to the Pharisees and if they accept what Jesus said will become a revelation or even an epiphany setting them free of their burden. This was the brilliance of Jesus’ wisdom. Simplifying 612 laws into two simple straight forward attitudes - the love of God and the love of neighbour. If you have been following our “How to be Holy” series reading a chapter a week from Peter Kreeft’s book of the same name you would have noticed the author quotes C. S. Lewis in this chapter. “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way for in him Christ truly hides”. This teaching of Jesus is literally the cornerstone to Christianity and correctly positions us in our personal relationship with God.

Now, here is a quote from Deacon John Kennedy. You may not like it. It may even hurt causing you to ponder it for a while, but it is true. “Our relationship with Jesus is only as good as our weakest relationship on a human level, for whatever you do to the least of my brothers, so you do unto me”. (Matthew 25:40) It is only when we have truly accepted Jesus into our hearts that every thought, word, and action become an expression of God’s love for all.

As Jesus told the Pharisees, we to must come to realize that our relationship with God and with others are parallel and of equal importance. What does the implication of this really mean? It means that it does not really matter which relationship we work on and improve (God or neighbor) because each has an immediate and direct impact on the other. This is why Jesus put such great emphasis and importance on being in service to others because it is when we are in service to others that we take on the attitude of Jesus and grow closer to God our father. The whole life of Jesus was based on this simple but profound truth. It is in service to others that we learn to get beyond ourselves seeing the greater vision God has for us and for the church. It is in service to others that we learn to die to ourselves. As Saint John the Baptist so clearly stated “I must decrease, and He must increase” dying to self and becoming a person for others. (John 3:30)

Ultimately like the Pharisees, we must come to the realization that salvation can never be achieved or assured by a bunch of do’s and don’ts, as salvation it is a true gift, given by God through His son Jesus. We only receive this gift by entering a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Then our “do’s” simply become an outpouring of Jesus’ love for us and if we are busy doing the “do’s” we won’t have time to do the “don’ts”.

God Bless,

Deacon John