So, right at the start of the year, how can we move away from this notion of the law as an imposition? If we were tangled by the annoyance that laws compel, then it will be hard to see beyond imposition. We will also feel burdened but beyond penalty, that is, away the long arms of the law, rules and regulations also serve another purpose. They define us. They are not merely matters of do’s and don’ts. In drawing lines, they define who we are. For example, if rapists were caught and released with simply a stern warning, the message to the rapists is that our society tolerates rapes.
In the Gospel, Jesus went to the Temple and there He took out the scroll of Isaiah and started reading. For him that was a moment of self-definition. He drew His lines like He did on the sand, and His behaviour after reading from Isaiah sent a clear signal of His identity. As He sat down, all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on Him and He proceeded to announce that the words of Isaiah were applied to Himself. He is the Messiah they had been waiting for. As the Anointed One, He has come to proclaim the Gospel, to set prisoners free, to give sight to the blind, to set the downtrodden free and to proclaim a year of favour.
For the Church, the boundaries that defines the Messiah’s engagement with the world has deep social and ecological implications. They define who we are too. In fact, the Church’s self-understanding harmonises with mission she has received from Christ Himself. Doing good has been the DNA of the Church and currently that good is done through a comprehensive care for the environment and a search for a form of equality that respects with our dignity as “imago Dei”.
As the image of God, we reflect the Trinitarian character of our God. We are not monads, or single-cell organisms. We are not amoebas. We are defined by our complex relationships. The 2nd Reading speaks of the body as an organic whole and yet we are not merely any body but a spirit-filled body with the heart of Christ beating within. Echoing the 3rd Eucharist Prayer which we are familiar with, “One body, one spirit in Christ”, we are animated by Christ’s Spirit to be His Body, the Church. As such, each one has a role to play in making this Body come alive.
Sadly, we are highly motivated as individuals and we think in terms of self-reliance, independence and assertiveness. We fiercely guard our personalfreedom so much so that beyond our close-knit circle of family and friends, there seems to be a chasm or a void out there which we seldom feel responsible for. This is exemplified when people speak of “victimless” crime as if there were truly such a thing. The criterion that no one got hurt cannot be translated to a victimless crime.
The organic analogy of the Church given by St Paul is an antidote against such a notion of victimless crime. For even if no one were hurt or injured, the person who sins, deforms his or her soul. If being good makes us more like Christ, then sin mars His image in us and moves us further away from His body. In other words, everyone has an influence on everyone no matter how small. If a member of the Christian community is hurt, then all the other members also share in the suffering. This makes us responsible for each other.
What has become an important value for modernity is authenticity. But if we think about it, Christ’s proclamation of Isaiah’s scroll would not sound so revolutionary if everyone regarded himself or herself as part of an organic whole. For example, we are inspired by acts of generosity and goodness. In heaven, everyone is generous and good that it would not even cause a ripple or register as a stand-out.
Christ’s definition of Himself is an invitation and challenge to each one of us to cultivate the habits of generosity and goodness because these acts create the Body of Christ, making the Church even more Christ-like for the world which hungers for and also seeks the face of God.
Finally, the very idea of laws is not alien to us. It is not an imposition but rather as found in Jeremiah 31:34: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. In love there is no compulsion. When there is love, there will always be an overflowing of compassion and charity. When we love, there God is.
