Deacon Ed Shoener,
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Did you listen closely to that first reading today? You can almost hear the exasperation perhaps even a bit of sarcasm, in Moses’ voice.
He gave them clear and simple commandments, the Ten Commandments.
Yet, the people did not want to follow the commandments. Some were suggesting that the commandments seemed complicated, but with a bit of sarcasm Moses said:
The commandments are “not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky. Nor is it across the sea.
“it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out."
In effect, he said to the people – c’mon, you know what I am talking about. You just don’t want to do it.
And in exasperation, he said: "If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments”
Now isn’t that the truth? What a difference the world would be if we would just follow those 10 simple commandments.
In fact, think about what a wonderfully different place the world would be if everyone obeyed even just a couple of the commandments all of the time.
In the famous Gospel reading today about the Good Samaritan, Jesus, like Moses, reminds us that doing what is right is not complicated.
A scholar, who was a bit of a wise guy, tried to test Jesus by asking, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Now Jesus, knowing that this guy knew the Scriptures, asked: "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"
The scholar of course gave the correct answer: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
And Jesus said, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."
Now, if the scholar just left it at that he would have been good.
But, like the people of Moses' time, like so many of us today - he had to make things complicated. He then said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
His inference was: is it: “my parents? Those of my religion? Those with the same political views … he wants a clear rule that enables him to classify people into “neighbor” and “non-neighbor”.
And Jesus answers him with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
You know the story. Temple leaders, and scholars like him, come across the suffering man along the road and don’t help. They are busy, perhaps even afraid of the person along the road, who knows why – but they have some excuse to justify their failure to take the time and effort to help.
You know, as an aside, this too is a sin, as we all know from saying the confiteor – “I have greatly sinned in what I have done – and in what I have failed to do”
Jesus is making an important point here about the leaders and scholars who passed by the wounded man. You can know the whole Bible, all the liturgical rubrics, and all the theology (which are all important to know) but true worship does not exist if it is not translated into service to our neighbor.
Jesus is telling us that when we look into the face of someone who is suffering, we cannot remain spectators. When we ignore suffering, we ignore God.
Now the Good Samaritan did not pass by the wounded, suffering man. Instead, he stopped and helped. Jesus said, “he had compassion”.
Jesus teaches us the meaning of true compassion. It is not a vague feeling. It is taking action and taking care of those who are suffering. And accompanying them.
So, in response to the scholars’ question “who is my neighbor?”, Jesus uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to make the point that we can become a neighbor to anyone we meet who is in need, anyone who is suffering, anyone who feels abandoned, anyone who is discriminated against.
Discrimination was as big a problem in Jesus’ time as it is in our time. It resulted in one group of people not seeing another group as their neighbor. The Jews discriminated against the Samaritans for historical reasons.
In our day we discriminate against people, perhaps of their race, because they are from a different county, and all too often because of their wounds – such as those who are wounded with a mental illness, or an addiction or some other challenge that we do not understand - and as a result we fear them and walk by them.
This parable is also a reminder to us that we are all wounded in some way, if not physically, then certainly psychologically or spiritually. We all will suffer like the man along the road.
And Jesus has not walked by any of us. He has been with us in our suffering. He has compassion on us and accompanies us. So that we are able to love as He loved us, and to in turn be the Good Samaritan to others.
This parable is a gift for all of us. We have the answer to the question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?
It is not complicated. In our hearts we all know the answer: Keep the ten commandments that were given to Moses. Love the Lord and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus says to each one of us what he said after telling the story of the Good Samaritan: “Go and do likewise.”