July 10, 2016

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Deuteronomy 30: 10-14; Colossians 1: 15-20; Luke 10: 25-37
The story of the good Samaritan, today’s gospel from Luke…I remember hearing this story when I was very young on a radio program called,’The Greatest Story Ever Told’. We would gather as a family on Sunday evening and listen to this program that told bible stories. I remember asking questions as to who Samaritans were and why didn’t the people stop and help the man who was hurt. The who questions were easy, the why were more complicated; but I just felt they should have helped the injured man.

This story has been updated many times in my life. I’ve seen beggars in the different countries where
I’ve travelled. The Holy Land was loaded with them especially with those mangled with contorted
bodies. It seems that many times they were assembled at church doors, waiting, and using a
tremendous of energy to try and get people to help them out. Some helped…some just walked by…
why? I see this scene played out so often in our area by the homeless, especially veterans, holding a
sign and waiting at the intersections by the stoplight. Some people roll down their windows and give
and some do not…why?
I’ve seen this scene played out in large cities in the downtown areas where people assemble; some of
these beggars are playing instruments or holding signs or trying to sell some small items or just begging.
They all seem to be quite forward in there pleading for handouts. Some people give, some just walk
by…why?
Why do the people ‘just walk by’…I don’t know their reasons; I just have to look at what goes through
my head when I walk by. I wonder why they are in this need? What has happened in their life that the
security they perhaps had vanished quickly…maybe because of physical ailments…a loss of a job…or
something else. Sometimes I wonder if they are lazy…if they are ‘playing the system’ … if they really
are in need. I have learned during my various pilgrimages that one has to be very careful with carrying
wallets and pocketbooks because of the wide assortment of thieves who are constantly on the lookout.
This has made me suspicious when I see these people in need on the streets…’don’t ever open your
wallet in front of them’ one tour guide told me. I have thought that giving to many of the charities that I
do is sufficient. And I walk by.
The question isn’t really why…but what goes through me when I do. There always is some tinge of
guilt coupled with some sort of rationalization. Then I remember my mom who would respond to every
appeal that came thought he mail. She asked me a few times why there are so many that come. I
responded that in giving, come of these organizations ‘sell’ their donation lists. Also that if they are
legitimate, and they really have to be with government regulations, how much of the contribution goes
to administration and how much goes to the people in need. So I come back to the question that probed
me when I was young…why didn’t people stop and help.
I go back to the story that Jesus told.
The Jewish priest and levite lawyer passed by the beaten injured Samaritan…why? Maybe the wanted
to avoid contact out of concern for ritual purity. The Jewish religious law often referred to ‘clean’ and
‘unclean’. There was food that was unclean in terms of being forbidden. It also referred to animal
species that are permitted or forbidden from eating; the word kosher and non-kosher. Most of the
purity laws pertain to the necessity to be in a state of ritual purity when entering and performing certain
acts within the Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritan had no restrictions. He responded out of
compassion. He not only responds at that moment but he also continued in caring and stopped back for
his continued care. How should I act?
The person who presented this question to Jesus was a scholar of the law of Moses attempting to test
Jesus with his knowledge and interpretation of the law. Jesus told the story. It was a vicious mugging
considering the victims was stripped of his clothing; as a result, he had no means of identifying who he
was. He was totally helpless and half-dead. I would have thought that the two Jewish ‘officials’ would
help, they didn’t. So who was the person who helps…a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans had hated each
other for centuries. A Samaritan could not be neighborly to a Jew, a good Jew would not stand for it.
Sunday Homily Helps has an interesting response: “Who is this half-dead victim? A careful reading or hearing
of this story indicates that the reader or hearer is actually the mugged half-dead victim. And he has no choice
regarding how God might choose to help him. He or she might think that thy are in charge of God’s saving grace,
but, in fact they’re not. God can come to us in our most despised enemies, and there is nothing that we can do
about it. God’s values and preferences might not be the same as ours. God chose a Samaritan and not a Jew to
be the neighbor of a Jew In the end, the scholar of the law would not even say the word ‘Samaritan’ But he and
everyone else knew that the Samaritan was the real neighbor.”
It concludes the analysis of the story in this way: As with so many of Jesus’ parables, this story was intended
to bring His hearers (original audience) or its readers (today’s audience) to a decision. a) If we consider the
context of the parables, we see that they re almost always told in reaction to questions, controversies, or even
accusations. They demand a response. b) When Jesus asks the lawyer to identify the true neighbor to the
wounded man, he is inviting all His listeners to do the same. c) This parable raises for its audience two questions:
1) what do we think?; and more importantly, 2) What will we do? d) As many biblical scholars have pointed out, we
do not so much interpret the parables as they interpret us. Confronted by the reality of God at work in the world,
how will we react?’
There is so much for me to reflect on:
• What keeps me from seeing someone who has hurt me or done evil as a person that God loves in a
special way?
• How do I attempt to live the commandment to “love God with all my heart?”
• What would the people I minister to say is the most important thing to do as a Catholic? Come to
Mass? Love one another? How do I answer that?
• Samaritans: anyone whom people despise without knowing; for example felons, gang members, drug
dealers, people of a different race, culture, religion, terrorists?
• Is it difficult for me to become physically involved in ministering to the outcasts of today’s society?
Why? How do I overcome the feeling?
Sacred Space 2016 says:
“Modern urban life trains us to walk on by, to be like the priest or Levite in the parable. I ask God to help me
preserve the compassion to which Jesus calls us.
To be a neighbor is to be one who shows mercy. I consider my attitude to those among whom I live and imagine
how I might be merciful to them as God is to me.”