Is religion just about following a bunch of rules?
The Book of Deuteronomy, from which this Sunday's first
reading is taken, is primarily concerned with Jewish rituals and the proper
rules for celebrating them. When Moses teaches the people to observe a set of statutes and decrees, that list is meant
to define them communally, as a people, an identity derived first and foremost
from their relationship with God. Psalm 15 names some of these rules: the people
of Israel are called to walk blamelessly,
to embrace the truth rather than slander, to harm or reproach no one… The list is extensive, detailed; more
importantly, it is other-centered, promoting a justice that looks always to the needs of our fellow human beings.
By Jesus' time, the law has atrophied into a set of rules
that are no longer just or life-giving.
Participating in law of God was meant to bind people to the love of God
and the love of other, Jesus tells the hypocritical Pharisees and scribes in Mark's Gospel,
whereas their proliferation of human laws tends to generate only ritualistic
motions: in vain do they worship, Jesus says. Faith is not something we can just do
ritualistically; we have to allow it to grow, to transform us; it is ongoing,
an evolving process. And it requires our
active participation, starting from a place of other-centered humility. As the Letter of James notes: Humbly
welcome the word that has been planted in you.
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Care for orphans and widows.
If religion is just about following a bunch of rules,
if it is a practice that does not transform our relationship with others, then
it is useless and empty. But if we allow
ourselves to be recreated by the Word, we can be channels through which God's
love can come into the world, binding us to others and to God in the true
etymological sense of the word religare…
not by laws or rules, but through love, the greatest law of all.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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