Gospel Reflection for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

February 12th – The letter of the law and the spirit of the law

From a very early age, we are encouraged to do what we told and asked. When we are young we listen to and learn from our parents; we follow their example and do what they asked us to do. This continues when we go to school; the teacher asks to behave in a certain way and expects to follow the rules of the class and the school. There are rules of the road to help us drive safely with care and concern for other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. Religion has rules too and this was as true at the time of Jesus as it is today for us today. However, there is always the danger that the letter of the law becomes more important than the spirit of the law. There is always the danger that the law becomes more important that the religion is seeks to guide and uphold.

We know from the gospels that Jesus had many battles and arguments with the Pharisees and Sadducees. These were the two groups who controlled and organised all the rites and rituals of the Jewish religion. However, Jesus said to the people, ‘Do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on your shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! Despite their well-meaning intentions, they had let the letter of the law overtake the heart and spirit of the law.

On another occasion, when asked by the Sadducees which was the greatest commandment of the law, Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind and you must love your neighbours as yourself.’ These words from Jesus are as powerful and relevant today as when he first spoke them. They are meant as much for us as they were for those who first heard them.

All too easily we can become like the Pharisees and the Sadducees; we can become slaves to the law of the gospel and miss what its message of hope and new life are really about. Pope Francis offers these words of warning to us, ‘people rigidly bound to the law suffer pain, pride and often live a double life. God’s laws are not meant to make us slaves but to make us free, to make us sons and daughters of God. God prefers mercy, tenderness, goodness and humility. May the Lord teach each of us to walk within the Lord’s laws with these ways.’

Jesus is not asking us to break the law, particularly the law of the gospel. He is calling us to go beyond the letter of the law and to deepen our appreciation of the message of the gospel. The good news of the gospel is more a matter of the heart than it is matter of the head. May we love the Lord, ourselves and our neighbours with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind.

• Michael Moore OMI