Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week the George Zimmerman trial reached its climax. This morning I saw on the news that George Zimmerman was acquitted of the killing of Trayvon Martin. The case is closed and George Zimmerman is a free man. However, there is hardly a sense of triumph in the media or anywhere for that matter. The reason perhaps is obvious. A life has been lost. Trayvon Martin is dead. Death in any circumstance is a tragedy. And Trayvon Martin is not alone. Each day thousands of men, woman and children become victims of violence and war. And then we come to church and hear the parable of the Good Samaritan. There is almost a sense of relief in the way the story ends. Goodness wins!
Let me just say a few things about the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan before I draw out its practical implications. First, in my homily about two weeks back I had mentioned that in the gospel of Luke, Jesus goes to Jerusalem only once and that his journey there was a deliberate decision. He knew that when he got there he would be put to death by his religious opponents. “On the way” Jesus teaches, heals and does good. The journey to Jerusalem becomes the way of discipleship for his disciples. Second, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan within the context of the question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ answer is also found in Mark 12 and Mat 22. In both Mark and Matthew the first commandment is to “Love God with all your heart…,” and the second commandment to love your neighbor is considered similar to the first. Not so in Luke. Rather than make one commandment first and the other second, Luke combines them into a single commandment so that the command to “love your neighbor” has the same force as the “love for God.” Third, we must not forget that Jesus is the Good Samaritan par excellence. He too is on a journey. On the way he encounters the fallen, bruised, and hopeless humanity. He picks us up, heals us the restores us to eternity. The only difference is that unlike the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus gave up his life to save us. He became for us the very “goodness” of God.
a) The Journey of Jesus is Our Journey. One more time let me say this – Jesus is on his one and only journey to Jerusalem along with his disciples. The disciples walk alongside Jesus throughout the journey. They have left everything behind and they have undertaken a journey themselves. In a way, it is their journey yet it is not their journey. It is their journey to the extent that they must personally decide to accompany Jesus on this journey. Yet, it is not their journey to the extent that it they were not walking with Jesus this would be a meaningless journey. There is a name for this journey. It is called discipleship. During this journey they will learn many things from Jesus. Just two Sunday’s back we heard how the disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven upon the Samaritans because they did not receive Jesus well. Jesus rebuked them. They learnt something from Jesus that day. Then they learnt from him that you cannot put hands on the plough and look back without losing the kingdom of God. It was during this journey that Jesus sent seventy-two disciples two by two to proclaim the kingdom of God. In today’s gospel they have learnt that to attain eternal life they my love God with all their heart, soul and strength and their neighbor as themselves.
What does this mean for us? We too are on a journey, are we not? We can ask ourselves some probing questions as we walk this journey. Do we think of our life-journey as discipleship? Who are we walking with? Is our journey inalienably one with Jesus’ journey? Are we walking our journey the way Jesus did? If Jesus was resolutely determined journeying toward Jerusalem, what is our vision, goal and purpose? Will the choices we make daily help us get to that goal?
b) Discipleship: Being the Goodness of God. I said earlier that Jesus is the Good Samaritan par excellence. In this sense he became for us the very goodness of God. Even when he is rejected by the Samaritans, when he tested by the religious leaders and when the actions of his own disciples frustrate him, Jesus just refused to do harm. There is not one incident in the gospel or in any other extra-Biblical literature that says that he ever did harm to anyone. Again, I think that in this way Jesus was teaching his disciples and us an important lesson. A disciple is one who best represents the goodness of God. In this sense discipleship is our attempt to be the goodness of God. I like this vision for discipleship… that as we journey through life that we go about doing good. How blessed is the life that like Jesus, our eternal Good Samaritan, does only good to the world. Think of Mother Teresa for example.
c) What Stops us from doing good? The scholar of the law who came to Jesus had a profound question for Jesus: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” But the gospel tells us that he asked that question not because he was a seeker but because he wanted to test Jesus. And even after Jesus gave him an answer, he wanted to justify himself and so asked another question: “And who is my neighbor?” If the scholar has asked this question because he was a seeker, he too could have been a disciple. But sadly, that was not the case. It is important that we ask the question, “Why did he do what he did? For that matter what stopped the priest and the Levite from coming to the aid of the victim who fell among robbers? Trayvon Martin did not have to end up dead. That is the question I am asking? What stops us from doing good in those situations when we have either ignored the good or done harm? What stops us from doing good? Is it jealously, or bigotry, or prejudice, or resentment or hatred or selfishness or anger, or greed or our fears that stop us from being good? Goodness will only win if there is conversion in our heart. And true conversion is this: “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.”
May our celebration of the Eucharist be an expression of our love of God and love of neighbor.
- Fr. Satish Joseph