The Seamless Garment
The Call to a Consistent Ethic of Life
by Fr. James Scullion, O.F.M.

The Image of the Seamless Garment (John 19:23). The seamless garment is a prominent but puzzling symbol in John’s Gospel. The soldiers cast lots for this garment so they would not have to tear it since “the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top” (John 19:23). This seamless garment, like the seamless net (21:11), seems to be a symbol of unity or oneness, the unity that Jesus brought and calls us to live out. The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin used the seamless garment as an image for a unified or consistent ethic of life. This image challenges us to have a seamless respect for life from the womb to the tomb.

Pope John Paul II has forcefully stated that a consistent ethic of life must oppose a “culture of death.” This culture is one in which . . . the powerful predominate, setting aside and even eliminating the powerless . . . unborn children, helpless victims of abortion; the elderly and incurably ill, subjected at times to euthanasia; and the many other people relegated to the margins of society by consumer-ism and materialism. Nor can I fail to mention the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty. . . . This model of society bears the stamp of the culture of death, and is therefore in opposition to the gospel message. (Ecclesia in Amer-ica, #63, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II, January 1999).

As the Holy Father brings out, a culture of life must address a whole host of moral issues including abortion, pornography and obscenity, poverty, health care, and the death penalty. There is need for a prayerful listening to the word of God and openness to the promptings of the Spirit, since on some of these issues not only people of goodwill but even Christians are divided, and the seamless garment of respect for life risks being torn.

“An Eye for an Eye” (Exodus 21:24). In the months and weeks leading up to the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, many voices called for his execution as a matter of justice. But other voices, particularly from prominent religious leaders such as Pope John Paul II and the United States bishops, called for an end to the death penalty because all human life is a gift from God. On the day of McVeigh’s execution, Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, President of the United States Catholic Confer-ence, issued the following statement:

In an age where respect for life is threatened in so many ways, we believe it is important to emphasize that human life is a gift from God, and no one or any government should presume to kill God’s gift. Rather all of us have the responsibility to protect human life from conception to natural death. . . . We offer our deepest sympathy and prayers for all those touched by this horrible crime, especially those who lost family members and friends. . . . We pledge our best efforts to reverse this culture of violence and replace it with a profound respect for the inherent value God confers on every human life.

Clearly, Christians, including Catholics, continue to be divided on this emotional issue. The voices of those calling for justice and those calling for mercy both claim biblical warrant for their position. Those arguing for the justice of the death penalty often point to the so-called lex talionis, or law of retribution: “If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21).

This law of retribution, however, needs to be read in the context of the whole of Scripture. This context begins with Genesis, where the Lord tells Cain: “ ‘Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him” (Genesis 4:15). A few verses later, Lamech boasts of unlimited vengeance even for a trifling offense: “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (4:23-24). It is within this context that the lex talionis needs to be interpreted. This law restricts vendettas or ven-geance: it should not be seventy-sevenfold or even sevenfold, but should be proportionate: “an eye for an eye.”

Jesus puts even greater limits on vengeance in his Sermon on the Mount. He doesn’t do away with vengeance, but puts it completely in the hands of God. Jesus quotes and rejects the lex talionis: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Matthew 5:38-39). Similarly, Paul calls upon us to forgo revenge and leave ven-geance in the hands of God: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’ ” (Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8). The New Testament does not do away with just retribution, but this retribution is to come not from human beings but from God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church recognizes this developing moral evaluation. Both the original and revised version recognize that “the traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor” (CCC, 2267). The revised version of the Catechism, however, does away with or limits these cases to very rare circumstances: “Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm—without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself—the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexist-ent” (CCC, 2267 [revised version]). The statements of the pope and the bishops, along with the teaching of the Scriptures and the Catechism, challenge us to be consistent in our ethic of life by praying and working for those who are victims of violence and also praying and working for an end to the death penalty.

“Made in God’s Image” (Genesis 1:26-27). The theological basis for opposition to the death penalty, the divine dignity of the human person, is also the basis for opposition to abortion. Human beings are “very good” (Genesis 1:31) and have dignity because they are created in the image and likeness of God (1:26-27; 5:1). The church, therefore, calls upon all people to recognize the divine dignity of the unborn: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person—among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life” (CCC, 2270).

The Catholic Church has been strong and consistent in its call to respect the life of the unborn. A consistent ethic of life challenges us to pray and work for an end to abortion. A seamless ethic, however, also demands that we do this in a nonviolent way. Killing to end abortion is just as wrong as the killing of the unborn because both fail to recognize that life is a gift from God. A pro-life stance urges us to reject and condemn such violence.

“Keep Warm and Well Fed” (James 2:16). Building a culture of life involves recognizing the dignity of human persons not just at conception or at the end of life but throughout his or her whole life. According to the Letter of James, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (1:27).

Both Jeremiah in his Temple Sermon (Jeremiah 7) and Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) call for a close connection between worship and social justice. Our works must flow from our faith or, as James states, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:15-17).

Our faith calls us to be prophetic voices that challenge systems, structures, and ideologies that rob people of their human dignity and worth. A consistent life ethic demands that we hear the cry of the poor, the homeless, the outcasts, and marginalized.

Prayer. It is in prayer that we come face to face with the living God. When we allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit, such an en-counter can bring about transformation and ever-deepening conversion in our lives. As we encounter God through our daily lives and our prayerful listening to Scripture and the teachings of the church, let us pray that we become a seamless garment that witnesses to the dignity and sacredness of human life at all its moments and in all its forms. Jesus’ seamless garment is an image that constantly calls us to unity and consistency in our respect for life.