22 nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 30, 2015
4 PM & 12 Noon Liturgies
J.A. Loftus, S.J.
Don’t you love it when our readings enumerate all kinds of sins and, perhaps for a change, you don’t find yourself on the list?
Well, we’re back to St. Mark’s gospel but it’s not one his more
“feel-good” stories. As the philosopher, John Kavanaugh said of this gospel passage, “The fornicators among us are surely going to be disturbed by Jesus’ words. So also the greedy-guts. The same might be said for liars, adulterers, thieves, killers, sensualists, the envious, the arrogant, and the obtuse.”
But I will assume that most of us here today would not make that list in any regular fashion. Most of us try to be good, decent, faithful followers of Jesus—most of the time. But today’s readings contain an even more painful but less-obvious admonition. It’s what Jesus says to the Pharisees of his time, and to the Pharisee in each one of us again today.
Jesus chastises the Pharisees for, frankly, being so irrational.
They cherish all the traditions of their elders; they specialize in knowing all the facets of the Law, all the obligations to God that
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Moses imposed. But unlike Moses in today’s first reading, they do
“add” bits and pieces and then take their additions as if it were Law itself. Why is this so irrational? Because at the same time, they seem to completely ignore their own larger tradition. A good part of that tradition we just sang in our responsorial Psalm, Psalm fifteen.
Who is it, really, that lives in the Presence of the Lord? “The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” The one who walks blamelessly and does justice, who harms not his fellows, who lends not money at usury, who accepts no bribes against the innocent, and on it goes. This is a Psalm that Jews and Christians have prayed for thousands of years. And yet we still keep asking in our frightened hearts, “Who will be saved?” as if we didn’t already know. God has, my friends, been quite clear. Humans are often not!
For we Christians, James’ letter today is merely an echo. He, too, says, “be doers of the word and not hearers only.” “Religion that is pure…is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction,” that is to say, the poor among us all. Sound a bit like a
Bishop we all know in Rome these days?
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These are the more subtle admonitions here today—and they are intended for us all. Jesus addresses us all when he says, “This people honors me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”
People still disregard God’s primary commandments—to walk humbly and act justly—but cling fiercely to human traditions.
Frankly, we are just being irrational! But we’re good at that.
Let me offer a few more mundane examples. They come from a book written a few years back by a psychologist and behavioral economist who used to be at MIT and Harvard but now resides at
Duke University. His name is Dan Ariley and the book is called
Predictably Irrational.
The book is full of some of the crazy and irrational things we do on a quite regular basis while thinking we are perfectly rational all the time.
One experiment offered Lindt chocolate truffles and
Hershey’s kisses to a variety of groups. The Lindt truffles (which are delicious by the way) for 15 cents, and the Hershey’s kisses at 1 cent. At those prices 73% chose the truffles and 27% the kisses.
When the prices were changed and the Hershey’s kisses were advertised as for FREE, while the Lindt was reduced to 14 cents
(only a one-cent reduction for both), 69% switched to the FREE
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Hershey’s and only 31% remained with the Lindt. An amazing switch. But it’s just irrational when you really think about it.
Here’s one of my favorites: suppose I offer you choice between a FREE Amazon gift certificate worth $10, or a $20 one for
$7. Think quickly, which would you choose? But look again, a $20 gift certificate for seven dollars delivers a profit of $13 dollars; that’s better than a ten dollar FREE one. But most people consistently choose the FREE option. Irrational!
One take-home today is this: we are frequently irrational in our choices. But don’t let that same sloppy irrationality seep into our faith commitment. Be careful of holding on to any human traditions (no matter how cherished they might seem), instead of
God’s bigger picture: Honor me with your deeds not just your mouth. And do justice in all you dealings with each other.
Don’t take too much comfort from the fact that you didn’t make Mark’s long list of sins today. It is only the “Big Picture” that counts in the end. Re-read Matthew twenty-five again! The poor are in our midst even here waiting. They sometimes just don’t look obviously poor. Keep an eye out! They are important! Peace!
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