Many years ago, a parish where I was pastor was assigned a community of women religious as the mission partners for the annual Diocesan Missionary Cooperation Plan collection.  The mission of those women religious was to provide housing and medical care to people displaced by the civil unrest in northern Uganda.   

The members of the parish were so impressed with the Sisters’ work that they wanted to have a monthly collection to support the mission.  As a result, one of the Sisters returned the following year, not to ask for donations but to report on all the good work that the parish’s donations had made possible.  This created an unexpected problem for me. 

The Sister who reported about her community’s work said, “Whatever you gave helped our ministry.”  The parishioners were confused by her use of the word “whatever.”  To many Americans, “whatever” sounds like the dismissive or disinterested attitudes of some adolescents and young adults.  I had to explain that Sister’s use of the word “whatever” meant “all” or “everything.”  She wasn’t being dismissive; she was saying that every penny donated had gone directly to those in need. 

There is a similar use of the word “whatever” in today’s second reading.  Concluding his letter to the Christian congregation in Rome, St. Paul wrote, “whatever was written previously was written for our instruction.” (Rm 15:4)  In Paul’s admonition, “written previously” referred to the Hebrew Scriptures and “whatever” meant “everything.” 

If not properly understood, Paul’s words might sound dismissive, disinterested, or evasive regarding the Hebrew Scriptures, but that was not Paul’s intent.  He didn’t mean to imply that the Hebrew Scriptures were not important, not comprehensive, or not binding.  In fact, he meant that everything in the Hebrew Scriptures “was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rm 15:4) 

Paul was encouraging the congregation at Rome to be patient with those members who were weak in faith or overly scrupulous.  When he wrote “whatever,” he was referring directly to the obligations articulated in the Hebrew Scriptures to offer hospitality to strangers and loyalty to one another.  For Paul, Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross replaced the ritual requirements of the Law of Moses, but the same sacrifice required that all moral requirements of the Law remain in force. 

Some of those moral requirements are more familiar than others, and some are easier to achieve than others.  Everyone is familiar with the Ten Commandments, and most people find it easy to avoid murder and adultery.  Some of the other commandments are more challenging.  To be a disciple of Jesus requires that we avoid dishonesty, theft, and envy to the same extent that we avoid murder. 

There are other requirements in God’s Law, as well.  When they escaped captivity in Egypt, God commanded the Israelites to treat the foreigners in their midst with mercy and compassion.  As I mentioned above, hospitable behavior toward strangers was required in addition to faithfulness to one’s family and neighbors. 

Certainly, that latter command is easier to obey than the former.  Little effort is required to love one’s family and friends.  As Jesus pointed out, however, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners love those who love them.” (Lk 6:32)   

Loving only friends, family, and like-minded people is insufficient to fulfill God’s will.  God instructed the newly freed Israelites saying, “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.  I, the Lord, am your God.” (Lv 19:34)  This command is included in St. Paul’s reference to “whatever was written previously.” 

I am aware that some people object to Paul’s universal “whatever,” but none of those objections are morally defensible.  Lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, envy, jealousy, racism, slander, and violence are as easy to avoid as murder.  The reason that these malignant behaviors are so common is that there is often no criminal punishment for them.  It is important to keep in mind, however, that good and evil are not distinguished on the basis of civil law but on the basis of God’s Law. 

It is possible to do a great many evil things simply because there is little or no criminal punishment for them; evil remains evil, however, even when the evildoer is not held responsible for the evil done.  St. Paul wrote that “everything written in God’s Law was written for our instruction.”  Giving oneself permission to do a limited amount of evil is the equivalent of responding to God’s goodness with an adolescent’s use of “whatever.” 

God’s promise in the Scriptures is that those who show all-inclusive mercy and faithfulness to others are guaranteed to receive all-inclusive mercy and faithfulness from God.  Doing this, in fact, is a great deal easier and more enjoyable than not doing so – not because of any reward or punishment involved but because doing so makes one more easily able to know and love God.