Want to Be a Legal Scholar? Learn the Meaning of Empathy

21 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 25, October 25, 2020
Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46

Lectionary Link

Today we've read the account of the death of the greatest law-giver of all, Moses.  Even being such a great law-giver, he still was not granted the privilege of entering the promised land.

In the development of the laws of the Torah, there came to be 613 rules to follow, and not just the Big 10.  And when we have so many rules, it enhances the roles of the religious legal authorities to enforce all of the rules.

And by the time of Jesus, the great laws had become less recognizable because of the enforcement of so many lesser rules which that tended to keep lots of people being non-observant Jews, and thus they were regarded as people who had lost their "status" with God.

Last week we read about Jesus being asked about the law of the Caesar regarding taxation.  This week the question about the status of the Mosaic laws.  "Jesus, there are 613 laws in the Torah; which of these laws is the greatest?"   We certainly in our time know this is a valid question.  Is the law about jay walking as important as the laws regarding theft, murder and perjury?  Definitely not,  and we recognize the difference by placing lesser penalties for the violation of less important laws.

Jesus does not disappoint in his answer.  He in fact repeats a summary from the Torah.  The greatest laws:  Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  In giving this answer, Jesus is teaching how to do legal thinking without have a perpetual lawyer on retainer.  The law or what are the best recommended behaviors has to do with one's relationship with God and with each other.  In short, the key to enlightened legal thinking is the law of Empathy.  Do we want to be law-abiding people?

Then practice empathy with God and with each other?  How do we have empathy with God?  By acknowledging the Greatest Being of all other beings.  By not treating other beings as the greatest.  By giving God time, not to get what we want, but to understand what God wants within the truly free conditions in the world that is honored by God.

As a parent do we want to be respected?  As a spouse?  Do we want our property respected?  Do we want our lives protected?  Do we want to be lied to? Do we want people to be motivated by wanting we we have?  This is how the laws of empathy work.  We do not wish to be personally violated in any way; so in turn we should not want to violate the just rights of anyone else either in thought or deed.

The law of empathy is the golden rule, of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.  

In our complicated world of hundreds of rules and law, we can lose contact with this basic principle of empathy.  We forget that the empathy principle is behind a good portions of lots of our rules on safety, on workers rights, on clean environment, on wearing masks, on stopping at stop signs.  We should always look for the empathy principle operative in a law?  Do we want protection and justice?  What principle of protection and empathy is found in a given law, whether it seems trivial, like cleaning up after your pet, or whether it has to do drunk driving or speeding.

American individualists get frustrated with all of the rules.  American libertarian individualists want to have a rule-free society.  They often want complete deregulation; they do not want anyone to interfere with their individual rights to do what they want, particularly if they believe that on their own island they are not "hurting" anyone.  Empathy is a valid and central legal principle; but not everyone has empathy to the degree for public safety.  When the angelic natures of people are not sufficient for public safety, we need to do something which seems unnatural; we have to enforce laws of public empathy.

In our lives today, the great laws cited by Jesus invite us to review the state of our own empathy?  Can we appreciate that different people need different kinds of empathy.  Can we appreciate that even though all laws of empathy do not apply to everyone, it is still important to honor the practice of empathy?

Since religious leader tried to stump Jesus with hard questions, he posed a question for them about the Messiah.  Remember the Messiah is not referred to in the Torah, since it did not become a relevant notion until the kings of Israel were made so by being anointed.  Being anointed is what Messiah means.  And if the messiah is a son of David, why does David write in Psalm, the Lord said to my Lord, indicating a conversation within the Godhead.

And what Jesus was showing them was that the Scriptures should not be used to play legal games.  The Scripture and the law is about the primary rule of Empathy and Jesus is the messiah, the king of empathy.

Jesus came to say that the purpose of the Torah, the Scriptures and the Messiah is to get with the program of empathy, empathy with a loving God and empathy in our relationships with each other.

And the end results is also being about to "love oneself," because one has learned the law of empathy.

If our faith and religion is not about empathy, then it is not biblical faith and it is not the faith of the Messiah.  May God help us to keep progressing in our practice of the law of empathy today.  Amen.