FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37

 

little brother avi bala bitra                                            10th  July, 2022

We are living in a world where People aim to get the maximum for themselves and ignore or forget their purpose in life. The sacred scriptures constantly remind us of the loving unbroken care of God towards human persons.  He created everything for man and for his well-being.  His concern for human persons is incomparable. He sent his messengers constantly to look after his people.  He is given to us as our Father, caretaker, and protector.

 The image of God as the shepherd of his people has a long tradition in the history of God’s people.  Today’s gospel reminds us that we are the instruments of God and we ought to help those in need. Jesus teaches us through the parable of the Good Samaritan that God’s grace comes to us in all forms and through all kinds of people.

 The first reading taken from the Book of Deuteronomy is one of the most consoling and joyful words given to people. It was time for Moses to take leave of his people as he could not reach the Promised Land.  It simply says that God is our life and that our lives can reveal God.

 In the second reading Paul tells us about the divinity of Jesus and that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. All creation was in him, through him, and for him.  Christ through his incarnation has made God visible to man. Man’s sonship with God indeed existed even before creation began.  Since all is created in and through him, Christ is the centre of unity.

 The Gospel of the day presents us a beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan, the man who goes out of his way to help a person in need. The purpose of this parable is to teach the disciples and the community the meaning of neighbourliness.  The setting revolves around a lawyer attempting to test Jesus in a verbal battle regarding his teaching on inheriting eternal life. 

Jesus counters him with his knowledge of the law regarding salvation and discovers that the man is well versed in his knowledge of scriptures. He tells him that it contains in his love of God and Neighbour.

 With this, he is eligible to have eternal life. Jesus gives him the story, the parable that explains the concept of neighbour in our real life. For the Jews, the concept of a neighbour did not go beyond a fellow Jew. The example of the Samaritan is presented as a model to be followed by every person.

 This Gospel passage presents us with the way of life for a Christian and how he ought to behave in his search for eternal life. It is one of the most famous stories told by Jesus elaborating his teaching.

There are four persons in this story. There is a priest, who is naturally a Jew and, besides, a man of deep religious convictions. There is a Levite, also a Jew, and also a religious person, and a member of the priestly community. There is a Samaritan, whom we only know as some kind of a merchant. We know nothing about his religious convictions but it seems that his religious faith is irrelevant to the story. Finally, there is a fourth person lying severely injured on the roadside. The identity of the person and his profession is uncertain.  We can safely presuppose that he was a Jew, who perhaps was a merchant or a traveller attacked by the robbers and now is in serious physical trouble.

Jesus told this story to shock the hearers into rethinking how God’s grace works and the kind of people through whom that grace may come. Jesus depicts the Samaritan as extremely gracious and caring as he comes to the aid of the injured Jew. In a normal life situation, no Jew would have permitted a Samaritan to help him out. What Jesus tells them is that no one can control the avenues of God’s grace. The keyword that Jesus uses in this story is “compassion” or “mercy”.

 Today’s story has very practical implications. Here we must remind ourselves that Jesus is not giving “religious” teaching to an elite minority. He is telling all of us how to be truly human. It is the way all people are called to behave towards each other.

It reminds us that we ought to recognize that we in constant need of the help of others, particularly of our God, of whom we have so often made ourselves enemies.  It tells us that God’s grace comes in all forms and through all kinds of people. In fact, the Good Samaritan listened to his conscience. He acted righteously and it is this that established him on the path of eternal Life.

 

 - @Avinash Bitra OFM Cap.