Homily for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 10, 2022. Gospel of St. Luke 10:25-37. Theme: Go and Do Likewise
The scholar of the law in today’s Gospel was a man who thought he knew all the right answers when it comes to religion. After all, that was his job. You see, he was a scribe, a professional religious lawyer. Jesus, however, gives him an answer that must’ve turned his smugness upside down, because the hero of Jesus’ story is the scribe’s archenemy: a Samaritan. According to Jewish religious law the Samaritans were heretics, scoundrels, considered sinfully unclean and repugnant to God from the inside out! A devout Jew didn’t want to breathe the same air or be covered with the same dust as a Samaritan. So, you can imagine the looks and words that Jesus probably got when he began speaking about a Good Samaritan who was the role model of the parable.
But Jesus went even further than simply making a Samaritan look good. He makes two religious clergymen of Judaism, a priest and a Levite, the failures and moral cowards of the story. They see the injured beaten man and they avoid him. They cross the street. They look the other way, and go about their business. Jewish law forbids them to come into contact with blood or death if they wished to remain ritually clean to offer worship in the temple. They were most likely not cold-hearted men but they have put man-made laws above the divine law. They’ve got their priorities mixed up. They fail to actualize the truth that love for God demands love for one’s neighbor always and everywhere. These two loves are inseparable. They do not understand that it’s not external things that defile us, rather, we become unworthy to offer God worship when we can help our neighbor in need but refuse to do so.
Jesus asks us through this parable to go beyond a clean, neat and safe generalization concerning love for our neighbor. Our consciences are not pricked by generalizations. Our faith is not challenged by generalizations. Generalizations are so easy to talk about and they leave us relatively undisturbed. However, when we personally encounter a dirty sick-looking person sitting outside a store with his hand raised for a donation, it no longer becomes easy to ignore. The generalization becomes a flesh and bone reality staring us in the face. The Lord calls us in this parable to see individual persons who are in specific concrete situations, and to do what we can to alleviate their suffering. He asks us to get our hands dirty in carrying out personal acts of mercy.
In today’s Gospel Jesus is encouraging us to become something far greater than we think we can become. He is asking us to go beyond ourselves, out of our comfort zones, and to love in a way that may at first seem impossible if left to our own devices. But he doesn’t leave us to our own devices. I can think of two special ways to help us grow in love for neighbor that can be found right here in our own parish: the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Inspired by this Parable of the Good Samaritan, Blessed Frederic Ozanam founded the St. Vincent de Paul Society in 1833. He did this so that ordinary Catholics who want to do good to others and make a difference would be able to have a concrete specific way to love their neighbor and be Good Samaritans. We have a very active group of Vincentians right here in our own parish who will welcome all who want to join their company in coming to the help of their neighbor.
We also have Mass and opportunities of Adoration that are like fuel for the fire of love of neighbor. The Eucharist gives us spiritual strength and energy to do things that we never thought we could do. By means of his Real Presence in the Eucharist that we receive and adore, Christ comes to live within us and to love others concretely through us. Through our intimate holy communions with Jesus, he makes it possible for each one of us to take the Parable of the Good Samaritan and bring it to life, transforming it from being just ink on a page and making it a flesh and blood reality in our lives as Christians.
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