How to Cross the Road

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, February 12th, 2023:
​The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 119

​R. Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart.

R. Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!

R. Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

Deal bountifully with your servant, so that I may live and observe your word. Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

R. Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

R. Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

Growing up, I was the kid who always followed the rules. My parents could bring me pretty much anywhere and be confident that I’d behave well, be polite, and not get into trouble. Here’s a memory that stands out as an excellent example of my rather rigid rule-following: back in high school, I was hanging out with my two closest friends. We were walking somewhere in southeast Calgary, and we had to cross a four-lane divided highway. We got to the crosswalk just as the walk signal changed to the flashing hand. They sauntered across to the other side … and I didn’t. “Come on, Kim!” they shouted. I just waved awkwardly and waited … and waited … and waited. (It was a long stoplight.) I felt kind of dumb, but I also didn’t feel wrong. I knew that it was safest for me to follow the rules and wait. My friends were annoyed, but they also knew me pretty well, so they just rolled their eyes once I finally joined them a million years later.

I’ve since learned how to be more flexible, thank goodness. And I’ve also had the experience of briefly living in Toronto, where apparently the red flashing hand signal is more of a suggestion to wait that actually gives you an extra 10-20 seconds to cross the road.

I think many people would say that living within the bounds of rules and precepts is constraining. Restrictive. Limiting. Where’s the freedom in rules? Shouldn’t we be allowed to go our own way? I want to do what I want to do … so I should be allowed to. Right?

From this perspective, organized religion is a perpetrator of unnecessary rules. Through secular eyes, a life built around religion can seem irrational or bizarre. Think of Marx’s famous dismissal of religion as “the opiate for the masses.”

God is telling us something different. God has always told us something different: that in God, in living by God’s precepts, there is life and love eternal. The psalmist declares this with enthusiasm: “Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!” 

Two lines stand out to me in this psalm. The psalmist says, “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law,” and then later, “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.” So, he knows that we don’t always understand the purpose of rules and precepts. He anticipates that we will question why we have to do things a certain way. And he asks God to open his eyes and give him understanding, so that he might not only persevere in keeping the law but also “behold wondrous things out of [God’s] law.” 

Just like teenage me trusted that there was a good reason not to cross a four-lane divided highway on the flashing hand, we have to trust that there’s a good reason for God giving us precepts to live by. There are wonders waiting for us. There is incredible goodness and beauty that comes from living out God’s love (much better than whatever was waiting for me on the other side of that highway – I think it was probably a mall, or maybe a Starbucks). There will certainly be temptations to step away from God’s path. Sometimes we’ll fall off it entirely. But our Father is good at catching us when we fall, nudging us back, and waiting for us, no matter how long it takes or how far off we wander. Let’s walk together, encouraging each other to stay in the path of God’s light and keeping our eyes open for wonders.



Kim Tan

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