Clarification and transformation

The lawyer in the account from the Gospel of Luke today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary addresses Jesus as he might someone in the legal profession seeking clarification about who is the neighbour referred to in the Great Commandment. We often try to parse the directions we understand as the intention of God into actions which apply to us and those which for some reason do not apply, today, in a particular context. The tendency in the stereotype of the lawyer to pick apart what should be a straightforward rule is often a behaviour which we both detest and practice. The text from the Book of Jonah is, according to Douglas Aronin, a very important part of the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur. The message of Yom Kippur is an invitation to turn back to God. In our dealing with sin, we can engage in behaviour, like the lawyer which we both detest and practice. We attempt to satisfy our needs by manipulating our understanding of the Way of God so that we are exempt or have special status. Mary Lee Brock reflects on the grandfatherly nature of Jonah which her young children detected from this Bible story. He is a good man who is running away from the path which God desires for him and his righteousness. Jonah demonstrates the transformation of Yom Kippur and the trust Luke asks of his Christian audience to put his whole life in the hands of God as he gives himself to the sailors to be thrown into the sea. We hear the Shema and we may recall the Baltimore Catechism and our invitation from the Gospel of Luke is to welcome all those we encounter today as neighbour and trust that the life which flows from these encounters is guided by the Love of God.