9 September 2019
Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest
Taking up our Cross in order to follow Christ means putting aside anything that prevents us from fully embracing it. This may even mean, as it meant for the Pharisees in our Gospel today, laying aside any perspectives that limit the ability of the Cross to bring us new life. The men in our Gospel thought they knew the Law—no unnecessary work was to be done on the Sabbath—but Jesus showed that they only knew of the Law: they had knowledge, but not understanding. They knew the word of the Law but not the Spirit of the Law, and thus they were estranged from the Giver of the Law. Instead of being amazed at witnessing a miraculous healing, “…they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus”, seeking to use the Law to bind God Himself.
Yet Jesus came that we might be set free: “A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free,” (John 8:35-36). He does not give us the Law or any teaching to bind us, but to free us; the Church seeks to operate in the same manner. The final canon in the entire Code, in fact, ends by saying “…and the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes” (Canon 1752). Never once did Jesus violate the Law; contrary to the vision some have of Jesus, He was no rebel.
Notice, for example, Jesus does nothing to heal the man in our Gospel today but speak: “Looking around at them all, he then said him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so and his hand was restored.” The Pharisees were not enraged because Jesus violated the Law but because He had evaded their efforts to “…discover a reason to accuse him…” revealing to them that their comprehension of the Law and their manner of following it was flawed: “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” If the Pharisees were to say “yes”, then they would have to admit that they themselves had not observed the Law perfectly. It was easier for Jesus to heal the crippled man than for them to admit they had failed to observe the Law.
And therein lies the challenge before us: do we have the humility to allow Jesus, the giver of the Law, to show us the ways in which we fail to follow and obey Him? For it is far, far easier to “wear” holiness than it is to truly be holy, just as it was easier for the Pharisees to obey the Sabbath rule by doing nothing at all on the Sabbath than to risk breaking it by doing good deeds when the opportunity arose. It is easier for any one of us to believe we are following Jesus when we are following “the rules” than to accept the possibility that being a disciple of Jesus is more than simply being a rule-follower: it is about loving Him and living the life He lived, the life He has given each of us at our Baptism. This does not mean bucking the laws of God and His Church: this means allowing the Law to transform our hearts, following the example of the One who said “…I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me,” (John 6:38).