Jesus went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man there who had a withered hand. They questioned him, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable a person is than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him to put him to death.  

In his closing argument of the national debate, debate coach Melvin Tolson's student James Farmer Jr. makes reference to a defining emotional experience for him, his fellow debaters, and his instructor in which a black person was hanged and set on fire. He argues: "What was this Negro's crime? Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? And who are we to just do nothing. No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing. My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow south. Not when Negroes are denied housing, turned away from schools and hospitals. And not when we are lynched. St. Augustine said, 'An unjust law is no law at all.' Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist with violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter." The speech won the debate national championship over Harvard that year. It also was a prediction of what was to come to our world. Sometimes the law does not cover every situation; a moral person is called to go further than the law.    

Human beings often resist difficult lessons. Jesus ran up against such a struggle in his life. Hoping to teach as well as to help, Jesus gave of himself to his people, the people chosen to inhabit the Land of Canaan. One time in one of the synagogues, he taught the Pharisees that the Sabbath law was one that should help people instead of hinder them. In fact, law can only go so far; sometimes one has to go further than the law demands. As important as the Sabbath rest was, Jesus points out that sometimes the law must give way to higher values, like giving to people. For his efforts, Jesus received not understanding, but hatred, and there were even a number of his own people who wanted to kill him.

To the people of the Northern United States in the early 1930's, the law was paramount. Law was legitimately approved, and a nation without law is run by anarchy. But to the people of the South, the legitimately approved law allowed for the persecution of people whom the lawmakers considered to be less than others. St. Augustine pointed out that it could not even be a "law" in that case. The debaters of Wiley College had seen first hand what the law should have done, but did not. They knew that the law had to go further than it did.

We do not like to accept something that is going to disturb our comfort zones. Law provides a comfort zone that many accept as a final word: to obey the law, then, is to do the right thing. They feel that they have to go no further, and they can be justified. But law is only a minimal guideline, and the law always contains within itself the reason why it was written. Sometimes, human beings must find that reason, and go further than the law demands. It is especially true when other people could be hurt.       

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we are a nation governed by law, and indeed we should be. But help us learn the lesson of your Son: even though there is a law, sometimes it does not help us to love others the way we should. Be with us, we pray. 

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America