The Book of Sirach (15, 15-20) tells us that God sets before us: “good and evil, life and death….” We are to stretch forth our hands, we are to reach for good (over evil) and life (over death). These are pretty heavy categories to contend with! And, sometimes, we do have to make real “life or death decisions.” More often, however, we face smaller challenges, but they, too, ultimately lead us in the direction of life – or death. What kind of challenges might these be?
The kind we meet day in and day out: between telling the truth and lying; between selfishness and self-sacrifice; between greed and generosity; between foolishness and wisdom; between welcoming others in or shutting others out of our life; between speaking a cruel or a kind word; between wasting time and using it well….
These are just some of the many choices that fall under the categories of good and evil, of life and death. When faced with these options, to which do we “stretch forth our hands?” What do we reach for? What do we try to grasp and hope to hold in our hearts?
Not every choice or decision is a “life or death” one, but everything we think and say and do does falls somewhere along the spectrum between what is right and what is wrong. That is “the law” Jesus came to establish and affirm: that everything we think and say and do leads us, ultimately, to either a deeper life and a deeper love for God – or a lesser life that weakens and drains our potential for goodness, for becoming the person God made and called each of us to be.
Help us today, Lord, to do what is right, to do what is just and fair, to do what is kind and merciful: to do what you ask of us, Lord, and no less than that. Amen.
