Give alms and everything will be clean for you
Today’s readings are about the tension between the law and grace. In the first reading, Paul continues to struggle to teach the Galatians that it is not keeping the Mosaic Law that matters but following Christ. To insist that converts to Christianity must become circumcised like the Jews is to add an unnecessary burden on them. Paul argues from experience that striving to keep the Law does not lead one to salvation. In the gospel, Jesus tells his host, that to insist on keeping the law of ethnic cleanliness to the point of despising others who do not, is like cleaning the outside of a cup while inside it is dirty. He then concludes: “give alms and everything will be clean for you.”
Laws are part of organized society. We have all types of laws in our society. We have the civil law and the national constitution. The Church has its laws in the Code of Canon Law. Religious congregations and institutions of religious life have their constitutions. Even cultures have unwritten Law. For example, there cultures whose law includes that of circumcision. For them, one is not fully recognized as mature until he is circumcised. The circumcision must be made at a certain age, at a certain time of the year and in a certain way for it to be valid.
Laws are meant to regulate life in the correct way and harmonious way. Yet laws can also be oppressive. To begin with, they are not known by everybody. Experts in the Law have to study for many years. To have their services, those who are not experts must pay a lot of money, and many people cannot afford that. It is not infrequent that those who know the law look at the behavior of those who do not as ignorance. We often hear those who have studied the law being referred to as the “learned friends”, as if other fields of learning are inferior. Yet even the cook must learn his or her trade, for the lawyer cannot eat the codes and constitutions. The cleaners and the butchers, the gardeners and fishermen could rightly refer to themselves as learned friends when they meet. Many of us have the experience of having to download some application, and encountering the directive that before you do so, first carefully read the terms and conditions. Many don’t go far in reading them, for they are too many in very small text, formulated in complicated language and designed to protect the interest of those whose product you want to use.
Paul’s argument is that the ultimate Law of life is Christ. Follow Christ and not your laws, and everything will be clear. Christ in today’s gospel points to his law which is love, for love is the ultimate law. Unlike other laws, you don’t need to be an expert to understand it. Even a child or a mad man understand an act of love done to them. And even when they don’t, it does not matter. At least they benefit. All other laws must be imbued by love otherwise they become a burden instead of a liberation.
