By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted August 30, 2024

(See the readings for the 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Jack needed to find a job. All he had to offer was his ax and his physical strength. So he went to a sawmill. He was hired. He started work strong and was cutting down a great number of trees daily. The first day he cut down 18 trees in his assigned area.

Jack was also motivated. The next day he decided to get up early and try to beat his record. This day he cut down 15 trees. He did not lose his determination but thought maybe he needed more rest. He went to bed early and tried again. That day he only cut down 10. He could not figure out why and it was frustrating. By the end of the week Jack was only cutting down five trees. He felt like a failure and decided to resign. He went to the foreman and said: “Sir, I do not know what is happening to me. I don’t know why I stopped performing at my job. Perhaps I better look for work elsewhere.”

The foreman said: “Let me see you ax.” After looking at it, he said: “When was the last time you sharpened this?” “I haven’t, been too busy cutting down trees.” The foreman suggested he try again, this time sharpening his ax everyday. He took the foreman’s advice and his potential was more than realized, within a few weeks Jack was cutting down 25  trees a day.

Jack was too focused on doing the cutting without adequately preparing himself for the work at hand. Perhaps this is Jesus’ message for us today. At first, he speaks to the scribes and Pharisees. His critique here is a superficial application or narrow observance of the law, God’s law. They had been criticizing his disciples regarding purification laws. Jesus rebuffs them quoting Isaiah “this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.”

The scribes and Pharisees are so focused on the minutia of the law that they readily fall into hypocrisy as they condemn those disciples. Jesus then speaks to the disciples saying: “from within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” These violations of the law flow from something within the person, these are to be avoided by cultivating a sound interior life of obedience to the ultimate law, the law of love. The preparation for doing god’s work, living in the covenant or now in the kingdom, is cultivating that law of love in depths of our being.

Jesus builds his teaching on the covenant as it is expressed in God’s law. The first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy has Moses speaking to the Israelites. He extols the blessing of the law. God has made known his way. He gives his people the law so that they may live good lives based on his love which overflows in love for one another. Justice is the hallmark of this covenantal law of love. Moses urges the people to not only keep the law but to value it as a great gift — for no other people have a God who cares so much for them as the God of Israel does for his people.

The Responsorial Psalm gives us some examples of the law of love in practical terms. These specific commands, ordinances or rules of life flow from the overarching law of love which is the source of justice. The psalmist mentions the following as characteristics of a person who is obedient to the law: one who thinks “the truth in his heart,” one who “slanders not with his tongue,” “who harms not his fellow man,” who does not reproach his neighbor, one who fears (shows respect) to the Lord, as well as one who does not extort or accepts a bribe against the innocent. Each of these characteristics is an application of the fundamental law of love in particular circumstances or settings.

The second reading from the Letter of James gives a similar exhortation to live the law of love. He urges his readers: “humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.”

This “word” is the instruction on life that comes from above, from the “father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.” His “word” is true and of permanent value.

Ultimately that “word” is Jesus himself who, in himself, has made manifest the law of love. The author exhorts us to live this law – not only as “hearers” but as listeners, those who act on the “word;” or in another expression are obedient to it. Like the psalmist, he too gives a practical example – “care for the orphans and widows in their affliction” and keeping oneself “unstained by the world.”

In the story mentioned above, no one would accuse Jack of hypocrisy, that was not his issue. His problem was that he was so focused on cutting down the trees that he missed an overarching, essential requirement, that would make his work fruitful and productive and much less challenging – he neglected to sharpen his ax.

Jesus is reminding us that to live lives that are just, to bear a rich and abundant harvest, and to be filled with joy and peace, we need to cultivate the law of love – in our hearts.

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.