Cycle C 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deut 30:10-14; Colo 1:15-20; Lk 10:25-37

The Epic poem   “Paradise Lost “of John Milton gives a vivid description of the fall of Angels from “Heaven”. The Satan decided that he was equal to God, and he was powerful enough to challenge God. So, a war broke out in heaven. Satan and his followers
rallied on the one side; and Archangel, Michael and others on the other side. Satan was defeated and expelled from heaven. Satan and the other rebel angels are described as lying on a lake of fire, from which Satan rises up to claim Hell as his own domain and delivers a rousing speech to his followers and declares, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

Milton also describes the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Paradise.  Milton shows a great difference in the fall of Satan and the fall of man. When Satan was expelled from heaven, he persisted in his pride and declared, “It is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” But when Adam and Eve were expelled from the paradise they fell into despair: "They sat down to weep, not only tears rained at their eyes, but high winds rose within. That was their inward state of mind." The initiative to restore them to the Paradise came from God himself. Michael tells Adam of the eventual plan of God. But, man has to respond positively.

In today’s first reading Moses admonishes the people that the only condition to be saved is “to observe the commandments.” Moses had told the Jews that God’s Law was written in their hearts; it was easy for them to keep it. St Paul, in the second reading, tells the Christians of Colossae that all we have to do to be saved is to keep united to Christ.

In today’s Gospel we have a Teacher of Law asking Jesus, “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

In other words the question means, “What is it that really counts a person to be saved?” This question is as old as human existence. The great Rishis of India spent their life in the silence and solitude of the Himalayas seeking an answer to it. The pious religious teachers pondered over it. The great saints meditated over it.

When the Teacher of law approached Jesus with the same question, Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law?”
The man replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself.”
Jesus replied, “Do this.”
The answer given by Jesus increased the ambiguity in his heart. The first part of the law is clear. “Love your God.” But the second part is very obscure.

We live among 7 billion people. On our way to the office we meet some people; when we commute by train or bus we meet some others, in the office we meet a different lot, in the church we come across another group. Among all these “who is my neighbour?”
The story of the Good Samaritan is Jesus’ answer.
“A man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho.” – At the time of Jesus, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious for its danger and was known as the “Way of Blood.” The 20 mile long road was narrow, rocky and full of sudden turnings which made it the happy hiding-ground of brigands. So, people never travelled alone. Rather, they travelled in convoys or caravans. Since the man was travelling alone, he was obviously a reckless traveller, and brought trouble to himself. We find among us, too, such typical characters. They get involved in everything. They get into trouble very easily. They never allow any trouble to spare them. So, always we have a group of neighbours who invite trouble for themselves.

Jesus describes three characters.  The first two are:   “A Priest”   and “A Levite”. They happened to be travelling down the same road, but when they saw the man, they passed by on the other side. They were probably going back to their home after a week’s duty in the Temple. They had spent a whole week performing religious duties. For the Priest to touch the dead man would mean losing his turn of duty in the Temple, and he refused to risk that. The Temple and their worship failed to be translated into action. They set rituals above charity; the prescriptions of the Law above the pain of man.  Our prayers, our ceremonies, and our celebrations will become meaningless if they fail to be translated into action.

Rabindranath Tagore wrote in Gitanjali.
Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground
And where the pathmaker is breaking stones.
Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

The third character Jesus describes is “The Samaritan”. The Jews hated the people of the region called “Samaria.” They refused to worship at the Temple of Jerusalem. The Jews called them heretics.
The Samaritan traveller was moved with compassion for the wounded man. He bandaged his wounds, carried him to the inn and looked after him.  Feeling compassion without practical action is useless. So, “compassion to be real, must issue in deeds.”

Jesus concluded the parable with a direct command “Go and do the same.”

In our daily life we meet many good Samaritans, who translate their compassion into action. On Jan 15, 2009, the world witnessed a remarkable emergency landing when Captain Sullenberger skilfully glided the US Airways flight into the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard.

One bridge over China’s Yangtze River sees hundreds of suicides Chen Si, a Nanjing man started spending weekends there saving lives. Chen Si has stopped about 144 suicides. (The Los Angeles Times reports.) “All people really need is one person willing to lend a hand,” Chen says. After saving people, he tries to help with kindness and money.

A paper reported about the miserable condition of a labour camp in Sharjah. The Next day the children of Our Own School, Dubai, collected large quantity of food grains to be delivered to them.
These are some of the good Samaritans of today.


Today Jesus command to us, too, is “Go and do the same”

Satish