15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
To test Jesus, a “scholar of the law” asked him what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus threw the question back to him by asking him, “What is written in the law?” The scholar answered. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength and with all your mind (Deuteronomy 6:5), and your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18b)
This astute lawyer understood the meaning of these two commandments quite well. He knew that just about everybody could agree with the first commandment: love God.
However, the second commandment was much more challenging for everybody. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The scholar was seeking a confrontation with this liberal rabbi from Nazareth, and so he asked Jesus to define “neighbor” for him. Jesus spun the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The people who walked by the dying man were part of the scholar’s circle of colleagues, including a priest, a Levite, and a member of the priestly tribe. They were on their way to Jerusalem to perform their priestly duties. If they touched this bloody, dying man, they would be rendered ritually unclean and would not be permitted to perform their religious duties. So, they left him to die.
Then, the religious outcast came by, the Samaritan. A heretic saved the Jew who was dying on the side of the road. The parable answered the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Be a Good Samaritan!
Let’s allow the parable to speak to our contemporary situation. Let’s acknowledge the insidious cancer, “that afflicts us today, them and us.” Like good Jews and good Samaritans, we can’t talk to each other because we’re so committed to our hatred for each other.
Let’s conclude with a teaching from the apostle John. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4:20a)
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we pray that your Spirit may enable us to see our neighbor in every person we encounter and reach out with love and care in response to your commandment that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Amen.
