Sunday Homily, July 14, 2013, 15th Ordinary Time C
Readings:
Deuteronomy 30, 10-14, If only you would heed the voice of the Lord.
Psalm 69, Turn to the Lord in your need and you will live.
Colossians 1, 15-20, He is before all things.
Luke 10, 25-37, A Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
The Scene: the desert outside the promised land. Moses is talking to the people about all that has happened to them since he led them out of Israel and through the desert for many years. Now, as they prepare to enter, Moses is dying. He is simply exhorting them to love Yahweh and obey his laws.
The Author: not Moses. A compilation put into three discourses.
Date: guess when? Yes, after the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555 before Christ.
Subject today: Moses talks about a command, but never mentions exactly what it is. Watch for the answer in today's gospel. The Great Command.
The Good Samaritan
I would like to talk a bit about the Good Samaritan parable this morning.
There may have been two meanings. Initially this parable looks like simply an encouragement to help others, which it is.
However, there is a second meaning, perhaps more profound, especially for the Jews who are listening. It has to do with prejudice.
The setting. A Jewish lawyer is asking a question about his justification. Where does one draw the line in helping a person? Who is my neighbor? Some observations.
First, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notoriously dangerous and plagued with thieves. That this man was alone is significant. People would travel in groups for safety. Was he an outcast? Friendless? Not too
intelligent or not so innocent?
Second, the man was stripped. For the lawyer this would signify that the man was without identity, of no identifiable class. In other words, he might not be anything, not even a Jew. He was Every Person. A human being.
Thirdly, the priest & the Levite (a priestly class). The lawyer would know why they did not stop to help. The Law. They would have been on the way to the temple and they could not cause themselves to be ritually impure or dirty. In the temple they had to be pure, no contact with dirty people or they could not offer their sacrifice. Organized religion still follows this practice?
Then, fourth, along comes the Samaritan. To the Jewish lawyer & the Jewish listeners Samaritans were considered scum. Samaritans were Jews from Israel thought to have intermarried with pagans, i.e., people who did not recognize Yahweh as the name of their God, probably Assyrians after 700. They did not get swept up in the Babylonian Captivity. They would defile the temple just by entering. In sum, they were vile and dirty, certainly not capable of performing an act of love.
But, to the surprise of the lawyer & the audience, it is the Samaritan who performs the act of love. He even risks his own life by rescuing the man. Jesus further twists the knife by showing how the Samaritan goes beyond the call by setting the man up in an inn and promising to cover all his expenses.
The composer of the parable goes further and plays with two elements used in the temple sacrifice: oil and water. The Samaritan employs these elements to clean (purify?) the victim. The author knows what he is suggesting in using these items.
Jesus is responding to the lawyer's question, "Who is my neighbor," by saying "Everybody." No prejudice.
Know anybody like that Samaritan? How about you?
Sources, Francis Vanderwall, Jesus, The Parable of God (Francis will speak here September 28-29)
