FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
10 JULY 2022
This
parable of the Good Samaritan is probably the most familiar of all the parables
of Jesus. We can interpret it in any
number of ways. People who stand at
street corners hope that we become a Good Samaritan and give them a
handout. Many years ago, I drove a van
to take a group of Sisters from their motherhouse across from Marian High
School to a funeral in Fort Wayne. It
was a bitterly cold day in January. On
the way back to Mishawaka on US 30, we ran out of gas. As one of the Sisters and I walked toward
Columbia City to get gas, a kind motorist stopped to offer us a ride. The kind motorist was the Bishop! I have often associated the Good Samaritan
with the person of Bishop McManus.
Because the
parable is so familiar, we might lose the original shock value of this
story. Traveling from Jerusalem to
Jericho is very treacherous, going from the height of Jerusalem to the lowest
place on the earth. Robbers and villains
find many hiding places. Both the priest
and the Levite are highly respected members of the community. The priest’s job is to offer sacrifice in the
temple. The Levite is a layperson
assisting priests in their roles. Both
have good reasons to be wary of helping a victim of violence. If the victim is dead, both could become ritually
unclean in their roles if they touch him.
The victim might be bait set for them by the robbers. If they stop to help him, they might become
victims of violence themselves. The
original hearers of this parable would understand the many reasons why the
priest and the Levite pass by.
Jesus shocks
his listeners when he reveals the caring person. Not only does he take real risks in helping
the victim. The caring person is a hated
Samaritan. The listeners would have
profiled him as uncouth, unclean, untrustworthy, and ungodly. Jesus invites us to imitate his example and
to be attentive to ways in which we can be neighbors for others. That person may be a stranger in need of our
care. It may be a person with whom I
disagree or who belongs to a group that I find offensive. Being a neighbor to that person can take many
forms. Being a good neighbor might even
include the people with whom I live and work and find incredibly annoying. Being a neighbor might even be as simple as
having the humility to treat that person with respect. Children, you can become a neighbor when
others pick on another classmate. You
are a neighbor when you stand up for your friend, instead of joining the rest
of the crowd in mocking him or her. Being
a neighbor involves looking on the person with compassion, taking risks, and
not using excuses to pass by that person, as did the priest and the Levite.
Saint
Augustine give us an interesting take on this parable. He said that Jesus Christ is the Good
Samaritan. He encounters us beaten up by
the sin and divisions of our world, stripped of all dignity, and being near
death. He is moved with compassion and
pours oil and wine over our wounds. He
bandages us, takes us to the inn and cares for us. Saint Augustine identifies the Church as the
Inn. Jesus Christ is the innkeeper who
attends to us in our wounded state through the Sacramental Life of the
Church. He will come again in the
fullness of time to transform and change us through his own wounds, his own death,
and his own resurrection.
Jesus asks
the scribe: “Which of these three, in
your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The scribe could not even say the word “the
Samaritan.” Instead, he responds with
the words: “The one who treated him with
mercy.” Jesus says to us what he says to
the scribe: “Go and do likewise.”
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