Living the law of mercy

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to go beyond a formula based observance of religious practice and allow our experience of God as mercy and compassion guide our actions towards others.

Down from Jerusalem to Jericho

In the passage from the Book of Deuteronomy Moses emphasizes the intimacy of the compassion of God for the repentant.

* [30:14] In your mouth: that is, memorized and recited; cf. 6:7; 11:19. And in your heart: internalized and appropriated; cf. 6:6; 11:18.1 

Psalm 19 declares the creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Ps 19:8–11).

* [Psalm 19] The heavenly elements of the world, now beautifully arranged, bespeak the power and wisdom of their creator (Ps 19:2–7). The creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Ps 19:8–11)2 

The Letter to the Colossians shares a hymn celebrating Jesus person and work.

* [1:15–20] As the poetic arrangement indicates, these lines are probably an early Christian hymn, known to the Colossians and taken up into the letter from liturgical use (cf. Phil 2:6–11; 1 Tm 3:16). They present Christ as the mediator of creation (Col 1:15–18a) and of redemption (Col 1:18b–20). There is a parallelism between firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) and firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18). While many of the phrases were at home in Greek philosophical use and even in gnosticism, the basic ideas also reflect Old Testament themes about Wisdom found in Prv 8:22–31; Wis 7:22–8:1; and Sir 1:4. See also notes on what is possibly a hymn in Jn 1:1–18.3 

In the Gospel from Luke Jesus restates the Greatest Commandment in Jewish Law (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and uses the Parable of the Good Samaritan to clarify the question of who is our neighbour.

* [10:25–37] In response to a question from a Jewish legal expert about inheriting eternal life, Jesus illustrates the superiority of love over legalism through the story of the good Samaritan. The law of love proclaimed in the “Sermon on the Plain” (Lk 6:27–36) is exemplified by one whom the legal expert would have considered ritually impure (see Jn 4:9). Moreover, the identity of the “neighbor” requested by the legal expert (Lk 10:29) turns out to be a Samaritan, the enemy of the Jew (see note on Lk 9:52).4 

Mark Latta knows the answer “the one who showed mercy” was well accepted by Jesus for His response was “Go and do likewise”. There is a symmetry to the original question “what must I do to inherit eternal life” and the admonition to “Go and do likewise”. In the final analysis the answer is about mercy.

Mercy is about more than forgiving a debt or a slight. It is about kindness, strength, generosity and pardon. Mercy is a word at the heart of many of our prayers and petitions and it is our intercession before God when call upon His steadfast love and support.
Still many times  we struggle with the question of who is our neighbor. The answer lies very close to us if we only center ourselves to listen. In Deuteronomy, Moses encourages us not to look too far for God’s commands to us for it is not mysterious, in the sky or across the sea but something already in our mouths and hearts—it we only listen and carry it out.5 

Don Schwager quotes “God desires to be our neighbor,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"God our Lord wished to be called our neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ meant that he was the one who gave help to the man lying half-dead on the road, beaten and left by the robbers. The prophet said in prayer, 'As a neighbor and as one's own brother, so did I please' (Psalm 34:14 ). Since the divine nature is far superior and above our human nature, the command by which we are to love God is distinct from our love of our neighbor. He shows mercy to us because of his own goodness, while we show mercy to one another because of God's goodness. He has compassion on us so that we may enjoy him completely, while we have compassion on another that we may completely enjoy him. (excerpt from CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 33)6 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 10:25-37 comments that the victim in the story was a stranger, a man of unknown origin, lying bleeding in the no-man’s-land between Israel and Jericho. Should anyone have felt obligated to help him? Surely not the priest or the Levite! According to Mosaic law, anyone who touched a corpse or a bloody body would become ritually impure. How could they minister in the Temple then? Wasn’t that their highest priority? If they couldn’t carry out their ministry, they risked losing their incomes. Didn’t they owe it to their families to walk away?

Jesus had one simple answer: “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). Follow the example of this “unclean” Samaritan. You might have to risk your comfort or your convenience. You might even risk rejection. But the man suffering before you is your neighbor. He is your brother, and he is worth saving.7 

Friar Jude Winkler notes the blessing of the Law of Moses compared to pagans who struggled with uncertainty about what God wants. The Greek (Gnostic) placement of the spiritual over the material is countered in the hymn from Colossians. Friar Jude likens the outrageous inclusion of a Samaritan as one who has mercy to extending the same understanding to a terrorist or Taliban today.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, asserts that until people have had some mystical, inner spiritual experience, there is no point in asking them to follow the ethical ideals of Jesus or to really understand religious beliefs beyond the level of formula.

In the early 1960s, Karl Rahner (1904–1984), a German Jesuit who strongly influenced the Second Vatican Council, stated that if Western Christianity does not discover its mystical foundations and roots, we might as well close the church doors. I believe he was right. Without a contemplative mind, Christianity can’t offer broad seeing, real alternative consciousness, or a new kind of humanity. Jesus was the first clear nondual mystic in the West, in my opinion. We just were not prepared for his way of knowing and loving.
Alan Watts (1915–1973), a British philosopher, put it this way: “From the beginning, institutional Christianity has hardly contemplated the possibility that the consciousness of Jesus might be the consciousness of the Christian, that the whole point of the Gospel is that everyone may experience union with God in the same way . . . as Jesus himself.” [1]8 

The Incarnational mysticism described by Father Richard speaks to a transformation based on our experience of Christ in ways beyond the minimal recognition in our culture and living a spiritual journey that enables loving compassion, mercy and forgiveness to triumph.

References

1	(n.d.). Deuteronomy, chapter 30 - United States Conference of Catholic .... Retrieved July 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/30
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 19 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/19
3	(n.d.). Colossians, chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/colossians/1
4	(n.d.). Luke, chapter 10 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/lk/10:52
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved July 14, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
7	(n.d.). 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved July 14, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/07/14/
8	(n.d.). Incarnational Mysticism — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from https://cac.org/incarnational-mysticism-2019-07-14/