There was a change of plan on the meeting that took place on October 22nd. It was P. Andreas who was supposed to give us a lecture that day. But the Trondheim Catholic Youth Group (KUL TRO) had a meeting on the same day. And since P. Andreas’ main work is about youth (and not students), we had to change the lecturer, so that he could have some time with the youth. P. Dominic gladly stepped in, and gave us an inspiring and educational lecture about St. Paul. This was a continuation of the lecture about St. Paul earlier this semester. And this time, it was about St. Paul’s understanding of the laws given to us by God.
How should we understand and interpret the laws from God? St. Paul’s critics against many of the people of his time was that they seemed to forget that the laws are made for the people, and not the people that are made for the law. In other words, you have to understand why the laws exists, and not just follow the laws blindly.
An example that we used on this meeting was the traffic lights. If you’re carrying a very sick child to the hospital, and you have to cross the road, what do you do if the traffic light is red for you? The child is very sick. It’s dying. If you understand the law in the old way, you will not cross, even if there are no cars coming. Abiding the law is the most important thing. And the law states that it’s illegal to cross on red light. But if you understand the law in the new way, the way that St. Paul was talking about, then you will cross if there’s no car coming. The new way of understanding the law is: the laws are made to protect us, not to burden us. The red light is there to protect us from getting hit by cars, but if there are no cars, then the right thing to do is to cross the road with the sick child, even if the light is red.
So the lesson was that it’s very important to understand why the laws are given to us, and not just to follow them blindly. But it is important to know that this doesn’t mean that we can get rid of the laws. No, the laws have a special value of its own. They are important in the childhood, when the mind of the children are simple, and understanding the meanings of the laws would be too difficult for them. All that the children is able to grasp is that the laws are important, and that they have to follow them, or they’ll be punished. And in the childhood, this is enough. In the childhood, it is more important to follow the laws “blindly” than to understand why they exist, mainly because it will be to complicated for them to understand why. In time, when they minds mature, they will understand that the laws are there to protect them. But in the meantime, all they need to do is to follow the laws, and they’ll be safe. That is why the laws are important.
We can compare the early mankind, the mankind before Christ, as a human in its childhood. God gave mankind many laws, and it was important to follow them, without fully understanding why. If God said that you had to do it, then you had to do it. But then Jesus came, and His coming and teaching indicated that it was time for mankind to grow up, leave its childhood, and become an adult with the mind and ability to reflect and understand why God had given them the laws.
For instance, the laws states that you shall not work on the Sabbath. Healing was considered work, so it was also not allowed.
“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” (Mark 3:1-5)
Basically, St. Paul understood what Jesus was teaching us, and he wanted us to understand it as well.
