Homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Why Charlie Chaplin Got It Right

Charlie Chaplin summed up Jesus’ life in terms of the kindliest light in the World, one which showed love, pity, and humanity. We all have our own way of summing up the importance of Jesus, and in the process, we say as much about our own values as we do about the person of Jesus. That practice of summing up what really counts is one we all engage in. And in today’s Gospel we see how Jesus is invited to give his summary of the essence of the Law.

 The practice of focusing the mind by summarizing the Law was a popular tradition among rabbis and their pupils. Perhaps the most famous example in Jewish tradition is the student who asked to be taught the essence of the Law while he stood on one leg. His teacher, Hillel, replied: ‘’What you hate for yourself, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Law; the rest is commentary; go and learn.’’

 Jesus gathers up the traditional wisdom of Israel in one statement. The first part of his statement quotes the creed of Judaism, to love the one God who is Lord with your whole person and everything in your power. This creed was written on a parchment scroll called the Mezuzah, which was fixed in a case to the doorpost of every Jewish house and to the door of every room inside. No pious Jew could disagree with this part of Jesus’ summary. But alongside this, Jesus places another scriptural passage: to love your neighbor as yourself. For Jesus, it is a combination of these separated texts that makes for the essence of the Law and it is that combination that has given Christianity its basic commandment for life. 

In his reply to the scribe Jesus makes it clear that you cannot compose summaries of the Law while forgetting love of neighbor. The scribe is pleased with Jesus’ reply and adds his own point, that the love of God and neighbor is far more important than any ritual worship. In supporting the scribe’s addition, Jesus places the demands of liturgy far below the demands of active love. This we see clearly developed in the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the priest and the Levite hurry past the demand for love to attend to the demand for liturgy. As Jesus combines love of God and love of neighbor, so these religious officials disconnect them. 

Jesus’ summary of the Law is not an academic pastime: it is a personal challenge to love God wholeheartedly and have tender regard for our neighbor in actively promoting his good, just as we should want to do in our own case. That is not only Jesus’ digest of the Law, it is also the Gospel portrait of Jesus. That is why Charlie Chaplin’s concise summing up of Jesus is right. The man whose pants were too baggy, whose coat was too tight, whose hat was too small, whose shoes were too big summed up Jesus with Gospel accuracy: ‘’love, pity and humanity.’’ All the rest is commentary.