Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, October 31, 2021 / Categories: Homilies The Walls of a Playground Homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Readings: Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Psalm 18; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28b-34 Imagine with me the most beautiful playground in the world. It has so many swing sets, monkey bars, and merry-go-rounds that you never have to wait on line to play on them. The wide-open fields are lush and green and so big and diverse that they accommodate every sport imaginable. There are trees to climb, bikes to ride, and the perfect places to play hide and seek, capture the flag, and freeze tag. This playground is so special, that the only way to get there is by helicopter—it’s built on top of a high island mountain bordered by sheer cliffs that fall straight to the ocean. Don’t worry, though, there’s a wall surrounding the playground that keeps the children safe while they run and fling themselves about carelessly. One day, their parents decided that the children were missing out on the beautiful ocean views, so they took down the wall. To their surprise, the children didn’t appreciate the views—without that wall in place, the children were terrified afraid of falling over the cliff. They no longer ran around the playground freely and carelessly; they huddled together at the very center of the island in fear.[1] It seems like the walls of that playground are a lot like the laws and commandments we hear about in today’s readings. Allow me to explain. I think we can all agree that scripture is filled with laws and commandments. Although I’ve never counted, Jewish tradition tells us that there are 613 of them in the first five books of the Old Testament alone.[2] Add to that the rest of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Church’s interpretations of those laws and commandments, and it’s no wonder that Catholicism is snidely dubbed the religion of the rules. So why do we need laws and commandments in the first place? Let’s see what our readings tell us. In our first reading, Moses nearly begs the Israelites to keep God’s commandments so that they “may grow and prosper the more.” And in our Gospel, Jesus praises the scribe who demonstrates his understanding of God’s laws saying: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” God gives us laws and commandments to help us grow and prosper; to help us live as children of God destined for eternal life in the playground of Heaven. God’s laws and commandments help us live the way God intended us to live right now—fully, freely, joyfully, and lovingly. Absent God’s laws and commandments, our sinful nature would turn life into a free for all where anyone could do anything without consequence. It might sound fun at first, but imagine playing soccer, or basketball, or Yahtzee without any rules. It wouldn’t be any fun because no one would know what to do. And we’ve seen what can happen when people don’t follow God’s ways. Wars, crime, abuse, neglect and disrespect are all too common these days. Imagine if no one followed God’s laws and commandments. Like the children on the wall-less playground, we’d be left cowering in terror, afraid to leave our homes. Fortunately, God has a way of helping us out. That’s why God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, which Jesus makes even easier by boiling them down to just two: love God and love our neighbor. That’s right, all of the laws and commandments in the Bible are encompassed in those two. So if we concentrate on loving God and loving our neighbor, we’ll fulfill every other law and commandment in Scripture, because every other law and commandment in Scripture points to those two. As Saint Augustine said, “Love God—and do what you like.”[3] He didn’t say that to invite a free for all. He said it knowing that if we truly love God, we will also love our neighbor, and everything we do will be acts of love. Let’s face it, we mortals don’t always like being told what to do, so sometimes we bristle at having to follow laws and commandments. We find an example in the United States today where we’re embroiled in a debate about COVID-19 mandates. Now, I don’t bring it up to take or promote a particular side—I don’t do politics in the pulpit. I mention it because these disagreements highlight two considerations that will help us accept and live out God’s commandments. The first is trust. Part of the ongoing debates about COVID mandates rests in the fact that there’s no common consensus on whom we trust to issue those mandates. So as Christians faced with today’s readings, we need to decide whether or not we trust God. If we don’t trust that God has our best interests at heart in giving divine laws and commandments, then there’s no reason to follow them. Fortunately God is proven trustworthy time and again in Scripture and most particularly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God delivers, and Jesus proves it. When we follow God’s laws and ways, we’re happy because true happiness can only be found in God. So if we want to be truly free and happy, we need to trust God and live by his laws and commandments. The second consideration is love. Our current debate on COVID mandates challenges us to heed Jesus’ two-fold summary of the commandments: love God and love our neighbor. We may disagree with our neighbor’s position about the mandates, even vociferously, but our disagreement doesn’t excuse us from God’s commandment to love. So if our neighbor doesn’t get a vaccine or wear a mask and catches COVID, that’s not the occasion to say I told you so. Likewise, if our neighbor is vaccinated and always wears a mask but still catches COVID, it’s not the time to crow that the mandates don’t work. Both cases are opportunities to do as Jesus teaches, to love our neighbor by praying for them and making sure they have everything they need to make a full recovery. Love God and love our neighbor, that’s the law we accept as Christians. It’s not always easy to follow, but it makes for a much happier playground. You know, the world was created to be our playground, and God’s laws and commandments are the walls that keep us safe. God gives us these laws for our own good— so we can live life to the fullest right now in the peace, harmony, and happiness of God’s loving Kingdom. And if you don’t believe me, look at the saints we celebrate on All Saint’s Day this Monday. The saints are proof that God upholds his end of the bargain. They trusted God, they loved God and their neighbors, they lived wonderful lives, and they made it to heaven. We can too, and we start by following Jesus’ and the saints’ good examples. If we do, we won’t see God’s commandments as obstacles that inhibit our freedom, but as the walls that keep us safe so we can run and fling ourselves about freely in the greatest playground in all of creation. [1] Adapted from G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (Middletown, OH: Ortho Publishing, 2014), 147. [2] Mary Healy, The Gospel of Mark, The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 246. [3] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 343. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions The Most Important Candle Print 494 Please login or register to post comments.