At The Foot of the Cross
AM: Psalm 113, 115 • 1 Samuel 2:1-10 • John 2:1-12
PM: Psalm 45, or 138, 149 • Jeremiah 31:1-14 or Zechariah 2:10-13 • John 19:23-27 or Acts 1:6-14
A lightbulb moment for me when I was a teenager was hearing a priest talk about the topic of law in the bible. Using a teaching strategy, he led a group of us to understand that law is the minimum guide to human behavior. The words used in a law cannot contain nor instill the optimum human behavior based on values or ethics. In a fragmented culture, the wording of laws becomes a malleable standard used to manipulate or rationalize unethical, un-Christ-like actions. For example, though segregation was lawfully prohibited, the law could not prevent subtle, racist, school or community policies that had a chilling effect on fair educational opportunities.
The Old Testament tells some of the hundreds of laws written that did not bring people authentically closer to God. In fact, God made a new covenant with us, sending God's own son, because the old covenant was so broken. Jesus blew apart many laws of the day that had become oppressive and unjust, replacing them all. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Today is the feast of St. Mary the Virgin, and two of today’s readings contain deeply meaningful references about her. At the wedding in Cana, Mary tells the servants “Do whatever he [Jesus] tells you.” Jesus had not yet begun his public life but Mary’s compassion for the betrothed moves her to act; her words are succinct and direct. Do what Jesus tells you. Mary is speaking to us, too.
In the other reading from John, Jesus, suffering on the cross, tends his mother one last time. “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” A dying son caring for his beloved mother. It must have been agony for Mary to watch helplessly as her son endured such brutal violence. Jesus didn’t call her Mother, perhaps because the intimate term would cause her even more pain; perhaps to keep the crowd from knowing who she was and thus protecting her. The word woman does not translate to us accurately; in Jesus’ time and language it was a word of respect. In that breath, he created a new family, giving his mother another son, giving his friend a mother.
The laws of humans do not inspire peace or justice. But God’s commandment given to us through Jesus does—that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Unlike human-made laws, this is no minimum behavioral standard: if we follow God’s law, then loving one another as God loves us does induce justice, integrity, peace. And like Mary at the foot of the cross, we are given to each other as family, to love and support, to accept and tend.
Written by Bernadette Reda
As a work in progress, Bernadette enjoys learning new things, fixing old things, and laughing at herself, given myriad opportunities every day.