July 10^th 2016. Fifteenth Sunday in ordinary time

Gospel: LK 10:25-37

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel.

Gospel: LK 10:25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him 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,
"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."

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise To you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In this parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite ignore the wounded man because the Law that they follow is fixated with their personal justification. They represent the Law, which must stand on the side of life, and therefore they cannot touch anything that is dead or dying. The Old Testament Law, with its focus on personal righteousness, is unable to provide an authentic solution of how to beave in such circumstances. What is needed is that an outsider come along, a Samaritan, Jesus Christ, who despises his own personal justification and righteousness and makes himself one with the unrighteous. In other words, what is needed is love. This parable is not seeking to create an opposition between love and law. Rather, it shows how a certain type of law is incapable of guiding our actions in the face of the plight of others. Law that is focused on personal righteousness is very different to law that flows from the loving concern for others. And laws do flow from love. Love is chaste and obedient. It is generous and tenacious. It is profoundly obedient to the condition of the other and his authentic good

What is the spiritual life all about? Having our moral accounts square with God? Or something else altogether?

When reading the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it is important to read the introduction. A doctor of the Law asks Jesus what he must do to attain eternal life. Jesus asks him what the Law teaches and the man replies: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus says that he has answered well but the man wishes to justify himself, so he goes on, “And who is my neighbor?” This man wants to know exactly what is required for him to have his accounts squared with God. This impulse does a lot of damage to one’s spiritual life and results in a fixation with norms and protocols. It is interesting to note that, in the first reading, Moses tells the people that the task of following the Lord is not out of their reach: in fact it is something that has been made very accessible to them so that they will be able to put it into practice. But the Israelites immediately begin asking what exactly they can and cannot do if they are to fulfil what the Lord wants. This is the perennial problem that arises when we seek to be righteous by means of a system of norms. The issue of justification has to do with one’s relationship with God. Therefore it is a matter that is concerned with the heart, not with formulae or prescriptions.

The Old Testament Law was incapable of providing a solution to the kind of behaviour that was demanded by a situation of this sort. What was needed was the coming of an outsider, a Samaritan, Jesus Christ, who would put himself close to us and aid our afflictions with his love

In the Parable, both a priest and a Levite see the wounded man and pass onwards. The actions of both are determined by regulations. Neither a priest nor a Levite was allowed to touch a corpse, and in this case we are speaking of a victim who appears more or less dead. The fact that both were healthy men who were capable of coming to the aid of the sick man was obscured by a fixation on the law. The priest did not possess the solution of how to react to a victim of this sort, and the Old Testament Law as a whole could not provide an answer to how one should behave when confronted with such a situation. What was needed was for someone to come who would make himself unjust for the unjust, someone who was himself just. What was needed was the arrival of an outsider, a Samaritan, someone who would come close to us, taking bone from our bone, flesh from our flesh, cleansing what was dirty from our lives. Or to say it differently: norms are good but only love can bring life. The priest saw the sick man, but continued on. The fact that he saw entails that he made a diagnosis of the situation, but it remained only a diagnosis. The Lord Jesus, by contrast, draws near to us, becoming wholly immediate, leading us on the road to full healing. Laws can help us to see how imperfect we are, but only love can help us to become perfect.

Law and love are not in contrast to each other. Love gives rise to its own sets of laws. The drive for personal justification gives rise to a different set of laws altogether that have nothing to do with love.

We are not putting love and law into opposition with each other. Laws and regulations are important in life. In fact we see in the parable how laws are transformed by love. The priest cannot touch the sick man because he represents the Law and the Law must be on the side of life: it cannot touch what is dying. The Samaritan, by contrast, utters a different kind of norm altogether: he says to the innkeeper: “Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend on him, I will pay upon my return”. “Take care of him” – this is the new command, a command that has its source in love. The Samaritan is not concerned with personal justification: he is concerned with right relations between him and others. The justification of the priest was of the individualistic kind, but the justification that comes from the act of love is one that is based on the care and concern for others.

We must make the leap from one kind of norm to another kind: from the norms that justify me to the norms that spring from love.

We must make the transition from one type of regulation to another type of regulation, i.e., from regulations that derive from individual justification to regulations that spring from love. Love is chaste and obedient. It is generous and tenacious. It is practical and finds solutions to the woes of others, instead of being bogged down by obstacles. It is profoundly obedient to the condition of the other and his authentic good. It has its own rules and its own goal, which is the care of others. Justification by law has a very different goal, which is that of personal justification. This contrast is at the heart of the transition from the Old to the New Testaments, which is the transition from being just to having love, and therefore having the justification and discipline that is inseparable from love.