A Reflection for Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Odd Time
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
slightly than to do evil,
to save lots of life slightly than to destroy it?” (Lk 6:9)
“For those who’re not a part of the answer, you’re a part of the issue.”
I remember hearing that quite a bit growing up, certainly one of many little adages that somebody like Ben Franklin probably said. Teachers used it to discuss bullying, encouraging people to get up for one another. I at all times thought it was a bit too easy for the actual complexities of our lives.
Nowadays, though, I’m not so sure. Possibly its simplicity is intentional, a challenge to place your money where your mouth is. We don’t should have your entire solution ourselves to timeless and colossal human problems. However the moment we stop trying, the moment we drift toward complacency, we’ve change into a negative force on this planet.
It’s not enough to deal with ourselves and construct the life we would like if that life doesn’t involve fighting for justice.
Most of us have enough on our plates already. We don’t think we have now the bandwidth to tackle society’s problems. But Christians are told in no uncertain terms that cash and success are the things we shouldn’t have time for. It’s not enough to deal with ourselves and construct the life we would like if that life doesn’t involve fighting for justice.
Within the Gospel today, Jesus asks, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath slightly than to do evil, to save lots of life slightly than to destroy it?”
The “evil” in query here would have been simply following the principles of the Sabbath, refraining from performing a cure on a day of rest. Jesus would have been far inside his right to not act. As an alternative, he equates inaction to negative motion. The query implies that doing nothing is identical as doing harm.
The structures of power that dictate our lives won’t go away on their very own. We’ve got inherited a world built on keeping the marginalized where they’re. Jesus wants us to query the principles made by the powerful of our society, when those rules discard people slightly than supporting them.
We should not called to maintain living our lives and avoid the issue, regardless of what rules or power structures stand in our way. We’re called to be flagrant and outspoken in our love for many who need us.
Because if we’re not a part of the answer, we’re a part of the issue.