Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C FIFTEENTH SUNDAY - 15.7.07 Dt 30,10-14; Col 1,15-20; Lk 10,25-37 Love my neighbour: who, why, when, how Shock
waves from a Good Samaritan Today,
the Good Samaritan story tells what it takes to ‘Love thy neighbour’.
Luke wants to shock everyone: Jews
and Samaritans, Torah-Teachers, Priests and Levites of Jesus’ time, but
especially each of us today, as we receive the impact of Jesus’ teaching.
There are two shock waves to absorb:
First, that (as at Jesus’ time), Christians are now called to condemn
in us and among us, our ‘know-all-attitude’, in case Priests, Ministers or
Lay, believe they are a cut above the others, holy and consecrated to God’s
service, and never stoop towards those who are hurting, confused or lost.
Second and more to the point, we Christians are called - as in Jesus’
time - to check our attitudes towards people that may strongly disagree with us:
enemies, terrorisers, people we suspect, envy or hate.
Ask: who is that person or that class of people, who right now feel cut
off…. Realise, that we are being sent to each other by the Lord, as
compassionate ‘Good Samaritans’? Today’s
story ends with the commission to ‘go and do likewise’: this of course
applies to the Scribes at Jesus’ time and to us - ‘know-all-teachers’ of
all time. At Mass, we are all -
ministers and ministered - sent
forth to ‘go and do likewise’. The
deepest reason is that, whatever enmity, division and clash we inflict, conflict
or get afflicted with, we are all guilty, losers and in conflict with our
deepest drives and all, ‘sinners’ before God.
What
it takes to live-out the command: love thy neighbour as thyself; is that we let
it mean: love thy neighbour because he is ‘as you are’, namely, he is a
sinner before God, needing God’s forgiveness as much as you do - and blessed
be God who is merciful to all! No
one is immune from the sin of enmity More
than 300 years ago, a French preacher, Jacques Duguet (1649-1753) made an
insightful comment on the way our animosity operates, turning self-righteousness
into spitefulness. He said: we must
not imagine that the Scribes (we call them Layers or Torah-teachers), Priests
and Levites - as indeed all of Jesus’ enemies - were in any way different from
us today, or that their animosity and strong clashes are unknown to us, or that
their pride is unrelated to us now. At
Jesus’ time, they felt entitled to due respect because of their virtue and
piety. Instead, Jesus condemned
their ambition and hypocrisy. In
the same way, those who today lay open to inner enmity should take care, lest
they produce a similar self destruction, however different the outer life
situation may be. Just as they did,
we too may persecute our brothers and sisters, when their piety, style or
‘religion’ irritate us. The
fact is that there is no cure for envy, nor a proof that we are immune.
So,
over and over again, we must ask ourselves: do we respect the gifts God has
given to others? do we praise his mercy, when we see it at work in the very
people who regard us less favourably? do we give thanks with them and for them?
are we quite unconcerned when they are esteemed as much or even more than
we are? are we genuinely sorry
about their faults, and do we refrain from speaking about them?
are we prepared to conceal such faults, when it is useless or risky to
make them known? are we willing to
be disregarded by other people, recognising the justice as well as safety of a
low position? Finally, do we really
try to draw attention to the merit and talents of others in those areas in which
we should naturally expect to be preferred or at least held equal?
These “signs” are never deceptive, when we come to assess our
animosity against groups or individuals: it’s always destructive, when it
explodes among spouses or families or relatives, community members or just
‘neighbours”. Let’s
pray: forgive us as we forgive. ______________________________________ |
