Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
I love today's passage from Paul's letter to the Romans (7:18-25a). It is just such a down-to-earth real picture of the way that human life works, at least mine. Hasn't everyone encountered some situation where they've done the evil they do not want, and not done the good they know they wanted? Paul knows that we have minds and can think through consequences of actions and make reasonable observations about what will be the better thing to do at any one moment. But that does not mean we will do it. I can plan ahead for a friend's party, for example, and think to myself that I will only eat two appetizers, because otherwise I'll be eating more calories than is good for me. But having thought through it does not guarantee that I will get to the party and find the miniature quiches so tasty that I eat five or ten of them!
What is the remedy for this? People have had varying answers over the centuries. Some have said that if only we have enough self-control, we would not do the wrong things. Some have said that if only we concentrated on our reason and let it rule us, we would not do these things. Some have suggested that if we just come up with enough laws prohibiting bad actions, and enough incentives permitting good ones, we would not do these things.
But today's gospel (Luke 12: 54-59) mentions that none of these answers (reason, self-control, or law) is quite adequate. Jesus suggests that people use their reason to figure things out, such as "when you see a cloud rising in the west, you say it is going to rain, and so it does". Jesus also suggests people use their self-control (why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?) and the law (the example of being brought before a magistrate) when they're trying to figure out what the best thing is to do. But at the end of it all, Jesus seems to be ridiculing people for being unable to do what "they want to do".
Neither reason, nor the law, nor self-control will get us where we want to be. Jesus is instead asking people to go beyond what the law requires - he wants them to settle out of court, for example. Going beyond requires more than simple self-control and reason in relation to laws - it requires a kind of common sense and wisdom gained from the experience of living with Christ! How do the disciples know that instead of going to court, the right thing to do is to try to negotiate and settle out of court? They know this only because Jesus is guiding them.
So, laws and reason get you somewhere - but they do not necessarily get to the root of the problem that we do not always do what we want to do, as Paul mentions in his letter. The remedy, for Paul, is found only in Jesus Christ who helps us "go beyond" the laws toward doing what we really want to do - which is to have a deep friendship with God.
In this year of focusing on the Eucharist and being the Body of Christ, we have a great opportunity to live with Christ and be guided by Christ to go beyond self-control, reason and rules - and truly be Christ for the world. Today let us pray for the grace to do that.
- Jana M. Bennett