Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 3, 2022 I am sending you like lambs among the wolves
July 2, 2022
Luke 10:38-42 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 17, 2022 Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her
July 16, 2022
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 10:25-37
A. Text and Context
• So we have just heard the famous parable of the Good Samaritan
• Jesus gives this parable after a lawyer in the temple ask him what must I do to inherit eternal life
• In reality this lawyer already knows the answer before he even question Jesus because he is an expert of the law
• He already knows that in order to inherit eternal life one must love God above all things and love his neighbor as he loves himself
• And not satisfied he asks who then is my neighbor? And that was the time that Jesus answered by telling about the parable of the Good Samaritan
• We can see here that Jesus is realty very clever and intelligent
• He knows that this lawyer is trying to trap him because everybody knows that the Jews and the Samaritans are mortal enemies
• But in the story it was the Samaritan who acted like a real neighbor. The high priest and the Levite who knew very well about the law that we must love our neighbors as we love ourselves just ignored the man who is almost dead
• Why is it that they ignored the victim? Are they so unkind not to lift a finger to help the victim?
• Well not really, they are aware of their obligations to others, they practice following the law but unfortunately they are only concerned with the externals of the law
• But why don’t they help the victim of a hold up left for almost dead?
• Because they are afraid that their hands will be smeared with blood of the victim
• Even a drop of blood that they come into contact with, they become ritually unclean or ceremonially unclean. That’s how literal they understand the law
• It’s the literal understanding of the law so that even if a fellow Jew is the victim and they will not help; then how much more if the victim is a Samaritan who is a mortal enemy?
B. Human Situation
• My brothers and sisters the story of the good Samaritan tells us that even our enemies are our neighbors
• Even the people who are mean, who are not nice to us they still are our neighbors
• The message of the gospel today is that as Christians we must not perpetuate a culture of violence, rather we must be against violence
• We should not mark our enemies as they are the demons forever
• How do we settle the problem? Talk to them, negotiate with them, be very diplomatic and forgiving
• Instead of perpetuating hatred, we rather cultivate forgiveness, we work for peace, we should be men and women of peace
• We may have enemies in our lives but the truth is that you will have no enemies if the totality of our own person is good
• St. Francis of Assisi was already at the point of death when the sultan finds him in his own territory. But Francis speaks of the love and goodness of God, forgiveness and peace and so he left the territory of the Saracens unharmed. The sultan was even converted
C. Challenge
• This is the challenge of today’s gospel
• Jesus is reminding us that all of us are neighbors whatever color, race, religion, or culture we belong
• In Deuteronomy in the 1st reading Moses reminded the people to listen, to heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law
• What is that law? Love your neighbors as you love yourself
• Why? Because we are one body. Jesus is the head of the body the Church, and we are the Church
• Whatever religion or race or culture other people belong, we are still one body, under one God
• It might be very difficult to love our enemies but the more applicable and practical applications of human relationships is that we will have no enemies if we do not insult others, if we do not speak ill of others, if we do not trample on the rights of others, and if we respect each other
• These things are practical applications on how do we relate with our neighbors
• Indeed, if we are not a threat to others we will have no enemies to hate; and we will only have neighbors to love
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