Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s scripture readings answer our most enduring question: “How do we get to heaven?” A scholar of the law came and asked Jesus this question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 10:25). Isn’t eternal life what we all seek? If eternal life is our quest, then today’s gospel passage becomes critical to our eternal pursuit.
Here are my three practical implications:
- “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The question that the scholar of the law asked was about life – ‘eternal’ life. Jesus knew that his questioner was a scholar of the law. Jesus meets him where he was by making the law the starting point. “What is written in the law?” Jesus asked. Notice that it was not Jesus who answered the scholar’s question. Jesus drew the answer out of the him. His answer was simple, yet, revolutionary. His answer had the power to reform Judaism in the way that Jesus came to reform religion. The scholar’s answer was revolutionary because He was able to get beyond the law, to the spirit of the law. The greater reason was that he was able to weave all the laws prescribed in the Torah into one seamless commandment: "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."(Lk 10:27). To him Jesus said, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live." Here is the practical implication of the scholar’s interaction with Jesus: eternal life is not gained except by our capacity to love deeply. Our capacity to love should be so deep that it consumes our mind, warms our heart, and touches our soul. Our capacity to love should be so deep that we get tested. Eternal life is the result of radical, revolutionary love – like the one we see on the Cross of Jesus Christ. Today, ask yourself this question: “Am I trying to be Christ-like in my capacity for love?”
- “Who is my Neighbor?” Perhaps, the scholar of the law was surprised both by his own response and the fact that Jesus agreed with him. However, being the scholar of the law, he had to justify himself. It is apparent from his follow-up question that he had no issues with the part about loving God. The scholar’s follow-up question was about the loving neighbor. “And who is my neighbor?” he asked Jesus. This time Jesus did not draw the response from the scholar. Instead, he chose to give the answer himself – the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus response of this parable was as revolutionary as the scholar’s response. You see, Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. In the parable, Jesus showed the Jewish religious authorities, priests, and Levites in negative light. They focused on the law. On the other hand, Jesus canonized the enemy, the Samaritan because he focused on love. The lawyer knew what Jesus was doing. Traditionally, in Judaism, the neighbor was not just the person living next door, but rather, every other Jew in the nation. Jesus goes further. He extends the boundary and definition of neighborhood to include the enemy. Yes, the Samaritans, who were enemies are also neighbors. Moreover, was the Samaritan who was teaching the lesson on “love your neighbor as yourself!”
So, who is our neighbor? It all depends. It depends on our capacity for love! Is the child in the womb my neighbor? Depends! Are the immigrant children in detention centers our neighbors? Depends! Is the person on death row my neighbor? Depends! Do we have enemies? Are there people who get under our skin? Are these people our neighbors? It all depends. It depends on our capacity for love. The greater our capacity to love, the wider our boundaries, and the more neighbors we have. Who were Jesus’ neighbors? The whole world! He died for all humanity not just the people who lived next door. Who are our neighbors? If our capacity to love is like Jesus, then His neighbors are also our neighbors! Go home today and ask yourself this question: Who is my neighbor?
- “Mercy” colored glasses! The question that the scholar of the law asked was about life – ‘eternal’ life. Jesus’ response was not merely an answer. Jesus gave the scholar the key principle through which one must interpret life. In other words, Jesus gives the scholar of the law the perspective from which to approach all of life, every relationship, every event. That key principle, that critical virtue, that all-important perspective is, “mercy.” At the end of the parable, the self-justifying scholar admitted that the person who was a neighbor to the robber’s victim was the one who treated him with mercy. Jesus said to the scholar, “Go and do likewise!” In other words, to enter eternal life we must see the world and every person in it with “mercy-colored-glasses!” What color glasses are we wearing. These days people see the world as black and white, gay and straight, insider and outsider, right and left, conservative and liberal, traditional and progressive, privileged and unfortunate. What color glasses are we wearing?
In the final analysis, the real Good Samaritan is Jesus! We are the victims of sin and darkness. Jesus came and picked us up, nursed us, and healed us. This Jesus will be in the Eucharist in a few moments. He says to us what he said to the scholar of the law – “Do this, and you will live!” He says to us, “Go and do likewise!” Yes, we must all do what Jesus has done for us! If we do this, we will enter eternal life.
- Fr. Satish Joseph