As the saying goes, ignorance of the law is no excuse. That is what Moses is telling the people in the first reading. The laws of God are not difficult to understand. Anyone with a conscience should be able to live with them.
By the time of Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees had added many more laws. The scholar who questioned Jesus about eternal life knew what was important: loving God with all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself. If he had stopped there, he would have been all right. But by asking “Who is my neighbor?” he implied that there are limits to love.
Even today, we find people making excuses for not doing what God asks of us. We judge people who need help, saying they choose to be poor or homeless. We sign our kids up for so many sports that we don’t even go to church on Sundays. Before you start beating yourself up with guilt, remember that God expects us to take care of our families, to spend time with our children, and even to take time to rest and relax. If we are willing to look at our lives and bring them to God, asking for guidance, we are making the first steps to keep God’s law of love.
Tom Schmidt, Diocesan Publications
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB