Deut 30:10-14
The events in this reading take place as the Israelites are camped on the shore of the Jordan River, ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses makes it clear to the people that they are expected to remain faithful to the Lord after they have settled in their new land.
Col 1:15-20
Today and for three more Sundays, the second reading will be from the letter to the Colossians. This letter responds to a widespread belief that God ruled the world indirectly through angels who were given their own powers. The author quotes an early Christian hymn that emphasizes concisely that Jesus is the one and only mediator.
Lk 10, 25-37
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He said in reply, "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." He replied to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live." But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied ...
[At this point I’m going to ask you to be seated.]
Bishop Untener’s Homily
Jesus’ response to that question is probably the most famous parable in all the gospels – the parable of the Good Samaritan. I want to give my homily at this point ...say most everything I have to say, in the hopes that we can listen to this parable with different ears.
A parable is a simple story that teaches a profound truth. Whenever we read one of Jesus’ parables, we need to look for the deep truth and not get lost in the details, or simply see it as a practical lesson in behavior. For example, the parable of the Good Samaritan isn’t a lesson about stopping to help stranded motorists. That can get complicated because there are safety issues. But that kind of superficial application isn’t the point of what Jesus was saying. The parable of the Good Samaritan goes much, much deeper.
Remember ... the question to which the parable responds is: "Who is my neighbor?" And the response turns the question around and takes up the deeper question: "How do I let the love of God that is in me shine on the world around me?"
Here’s a way of getting at the deeper truth. Let’s fantasize that there’s a planet somewhere out there with intelligent life on it. We’ll make it a smaller planet than the earth, and we’ll say that they have managed to make their planet a place of peace and good will. It’s not a perfect place, but they’ve managed to work things out so that they live together peaceably and make sure that everyone is taken care of. They’ve been living that way for thousands of years.
In our fantasy, some people from this planet come to the planet earth and are given a grand tour of the whole world. They would be impressed with a lot of things, perhaps especially, the beauty of this planet with its trees and flowers and lakes and waterfalls. But they would also discover places that aren’t beautiful. Slums. They would come upon whole sections of cities that are run-down and they would see people living in squalor. That would be here in the United States. They would go to other parts of the world and see people starving, children starving, and dying from lack of food.
Last week I was in Mexico City for a conference. It’s a city of over 8 million people... and I can tell you first hand – I’ve been there twice before – I can tell you that the living conditions in most of that city are like the slums in our cities. During the conference I learned an astounding fact. I learned that the country with the most billionaires is the United States (no surprise there) ... and second is Japan ... and third is Germany... and the fourth is Mexico. Fourth in the whole world. And you see so many, many people living in conditions that make you want to cry.
Well, these extra-terrestrial visitors would visit places like that in the United States, and in Mexico, and much, much worse in some other countries... and they would say to us: "You let that happen? You let that go on? You call this a civilized society? You sleep at night knowing that there are millions of people like that on your planet. Why... it’s as primitive as infant sacrifice. How does that happen?"
Now, understand. I don’t have an instant political or sociological solution. All I know is that this is the condition of our planet, and we do let it go on.
What would we say to these extra-terrestrial visitors? Perhaps some might say, "Well, we do our best, and we’d like it to be different, but you have to understand that for some of those people it’s their own fault. A lot of them really could do better if they made some effort."
I thought about that. Then something struck me. I come from a large family – nine children. I’m toward the end – the seventh. I remember, now that I think about it, how often family members had to fall back on the family. The economic level of my family was lower middle class. We didn’t have a big house. But I remember, now that I look back, that some of my older brothers and sisters, after they had been married for a few years, came back to live with us for a time. They needed some "temporary help" in a difficult time, or a time of transition, and we just took them in. And I remember other situations where the family helped each of us when there was some kind of a problem – the loss of a job . . . health problems. We had the family to fall back on. This isn’t hard for you to imagine, because you could tell a hundred stories from your own families. The question wasn’t, "Which ones will we help?" The question was, "Are we going to be a ‘family’ toward family members?"
What struck me was this. A good part of our world – including people in our own country – don’t have a family to fall back on, or if they do, the family is in the same predicament and can’t give them the help they need.
Can you see what I’m leading up to? The response of Jesus to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" turns the question around. Jesus says, "Stop worrying about categorizing people – asking ‘Who is my neighbor?’ – and discover that you are supposed to be "family" to other people, to the whole world, to all creation. You are to be neighbor, brother, sister, mother, father to the rest of the world. You can’t single-handedly solve the problems of the whole world, but you have been called to a different way of life, namely, you are supposed to live your whole life in a way that is neighborly, friendly, brotherly, sisterly, motherly, fatherly to the rest of the world."
But there’s more. When Jesus talked about this in other parts of the Gospel he gave us the reason for this. The reason isn’t because God is watching us, and God will get us if we don’t, and God will reward us if we do. The reason is, Jesus tells us, because then you will live up to who you are – daughters and sons of God, for God the makes the sun to rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
The reason for following this way of life is that we believe that God’s life is in us, which means that God’s love is in us, and we are not simply to enjoy it (which indeed we should), but also make that love shine through us to others, and to all creation. That’s the reason why we are to live our lives in a way that is neighborly, friendly, brotherly, sisterly, motherly, fatherly to the rest of the world.
I like that last line of our first reading today when Moses tells the people that when they enter the Promised Land they are to live up to who they are – God’s chosen people. Moses says, "This is not something up in the sky, that you should say, 'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it that we may carry it out?' Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?' No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out."
In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus is saying, "My love is already within you. Let the love that is within you shine all round, and stop picking out who gets it."
With all that in mind, let’s all listen to this, the most famous parable of all.
A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.' Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." (Luke 10:25-37)
May those words ring in my ears, shine in my heart: "Go and do likewise."
Originally given on July 15, 2001