That particular saying comes from ancient Roman law. The Purpose of the saying is to avoid anyone charged with a crime from claiming they didn’t know what they did was against the law. For example, someone caught texting while driving in Idaho can’t say they didn’t know it was illegal. Or, if someone from Idaho gets stopped in California for using a hand-held cell phone while driving can’t say it’s illegal in Idaho, but I didn’t know it was illegal in California.

We live in a society of hundreds of thousands of laws and no one really knows all of them, especially tax laws. But if you break one, you’ll soon find out.

That said, it is possible to get a lighter sentence for not knowing the law. I know someone who was from out of state and got pulled over for going 90 miles an hour on highway 95. They thought the speed limit was 95. The policeman let them off with a bemused warning.

It seems clear that Jesus was familiar with Roman law. Palestine was occupied and governed by the Romans, and he and Pilate discussed the consequences of the charge against Jesus. He had broken no Roman law. But the leaders of the people said he was guilty of treason against Caesar, which pit Pilate in an awkward position.

In today’s gospel, Jesus warns that when the thime comes- and we don’t know when that will be- we will be judged even for the things we didn’t know where wrong. But, the punishment will be less. He is using a legal argument. While ignorance of the law is no excuse, one will be punished “only lightly.”

Sr. Pail is quite familiar with law, Roman and Jewish. He was a trained lawyer. He is not quite as lenient as Jesus. In fact, he’s rather inflexible. Later in his life, he will make a huge leap and say the letter of the Law (the 613 commandments of Moses) kills the soul and the Spirit guides the believer. That wouldn’t hold up in a Roman court, but it would before the Throne of God. (Judges always sat on thrones when pronouncing sentence).

Ultimately, Jesus says there is only one law, in two parts: love God and love your neighbors. No one can claim they didn’t know it is illegal not to love.

Sr. Augustine made it even simpler when he wrote, “Love God and do what you will.” That’s not quite as simple as it sounds and I can say that wouldn’t be a good excuse in court.

I had a student in my class complain that I was unfair because I gave a test and he didn’t know there was going to be a test. You can guess what happened. He failed the test. And of course, it was my fault.

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