22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B 2024

When I was growing up, my parents heated our home with a wood boiler.  Every summer, a large load of logs, about 8-10 feet in length, would be delivered to our house, stacked high, waiting to be cut and split for the coming winter.  For a young child, this towering pile of logs seemed like an irresistible playground.  My parents, however, made sure to warn us—playing on the log pile was dangerous, and we could easily be injured if the pile shifted.  Though we mostly heeded their warnings, it often felt as though they were simply keeping us from having a good time.

One day, I ignored their advice and decided to climb the log pile anyway.  Standing atop it, I was having a blast—until a log shifted beneath me, sending me tumbling down.  My leg became trapped and bruised, though thankfully, nothing was broken.  In that painful moment, I realized the wisdom of my parents' warnings.  Their rules weren’t meant to spoil my fun; they were given out of love, to protect me and my siblings from harm.

Today’s readings remind us of the importance of God’s law.  In the first reading, Moses exhorts the Israelites to observe the law that God has given them, cautioning them not to add or subtract from it.  These commandments, he explains, are an expression of God’s love for His people.   If Israel follows God’s laws, they will live.

In the Gospel, we encounter Jesus being confronted by the Pharisees, who question why His disciples do not adhere to the tradition of washing their hands before eating.  Instead of justifying His disciples’ behavior, Jesus sharply rebukes the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites.  He points out that they have set aside the commandments of God in favor of their own human traditions.

The Pharisees were devout scholars of the law, determined to ensure that Israel would never again stray from God's commandments after their return from exile.  Over time, they established additional rules—human traditions—that were intended to act as protective barriers around the Mosaic Law.  For example, to prevent any possibility of violating the law that forbids boiling a calf in its mother’s milk, they created a rule forbidding the consumption of beef with cheese.  Similarly, they extended the requirement of ritual handwashing before a sacrificial meal to include washing before every meal.  These traditions, over time, became deeply ingrained, and the Pharisees judged those who did not follow them.

Notice that Jesus does not criticize the Pharisees for their desire to follow rules.  He doesn’t suggest that they are overly strict or tell them that the law is unimportant.  Rather, He admonishes them for allowing their own traditions to overshadow the divine commandments.  They had lost sight of the heart of the law—the will of God for the good of His people.

There are some who will accuse Catholics of an obsession with rules and laws.   Some go so far as to reject any system of rules and laws altogether claiming to be spiritual but not religious.   The laws of God mediated through His Church continue to be vital for our flourishing.  We may sometimes be tempted to see these laws as restrictions, as obstacles to our happiness.  Yet the truth is quite the opposite.  God’s laws are not designed to limit our freedom but to guide us toward true joy.  Just as my parents’ rules about the log pile were meant to protect me from harm, God’s laws are given to us out of love, to safeguard our well-being.

G.K.  Chesterton offers an analogy to help us understand this.  He writes

“Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground ….  We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea.  So long as there was a wall round the cliff’s edge they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries.  But the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice.  They did not fall over; but when their friends returned to them they were all huddled in terror in the center of the island; and their song had ceased.”  (Orthodoxy, p. 170)

Scripture makes it clear that we are not to add to or subtract from God’s commandments.  We cannot pick and choose which of His laws we will follow, nor can we label sins as virtues or dismiss virtues as unnecessary.  In a world filled with conflicting ideologies and shifting moral standards, we are called to remain faithful to the truth revealed by God through His Church.  Political movements and cultural trends may offer partial truths, but they cannot replace the fullness of God’s wisdom.  When man-made institutions contradict the teachings of the Church, we must trust in God’s law, even when it challenges us.

Yet, it is not enough simply to know God’s law intellectually.  We must internalize it, allowing it to penetrate our hearts and shape our very being.  God’s law is not a mere set of external rules; it is a path to the fullness of life.  If Jesus is truly who He claims to be—the Son of God who laid down His life for our sake—why would we hesitate to trust Him?  Why would we resist His teachings, especially those mediated through the Church?

If we find ourselves struggling with a particular Church teaching, let’s pray for the grace to see things as God sees them, to embrace His wisdom rather than clinging to our own preferences.  May we trust that God, in His infinite love, has given us these laws for our ultimate good.  His commandments are not burdens but blessings, guiding us to the life He desires for us—a life of flourishing, freedom, and joy.