May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
Last Sunday we heard about the Lord Jesus sending seventy-two
of his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. This week, we encounter the scholar of the
law who comes to the Lord Jesus and asks about eternal life. In response, the Lord Jesus tells the scholar
of the law the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Most of us are so familiar with this parable that we can easily hear it,
without listening to it. The story is
simple. A man going from Jerusalem to
Jericho is robbed, beaten and nearly killed.
A priest and a Levite walk past the injured man, and a Samaritan stops
to care for him. The Samaritan treats
the wounds of the injured man with wine, oil and bandages. The Samaritan takes him to an inn, pays for
his care, and promises to pay for any additional needs when he returns. The Samaritan demonstrates what it means to
be a neighbor.
The law of God calls us to love God and to love our neighbor.
This is not a mysterious commandment. It is not hidden from our view. This commandment is near to us. It is in our mouths and in our hearts as our reading
from the book of Deuteronomy tells us. We
have only to carry it out.
The difference between the Samaritan and the priest and the Levite
was more than just their actions. We do not
know why the priest and the Levite did not stop to help the injured man. The Lord
Jesus, however, tells us that the Samaritan acted because he was moved with compassion
for the injured man. From the compassion
that he felt for this unknown and injured man on the side of the road, the Samaritan
carried out the love of neighbor. The word compassion means to suffer with. To be compassionate means we are willing to suffer
with those who are suffering. The Samaritan
was willing to suffer and willing to sacrifice for the injured man. His act of charity cost him several things. It cost him wine, oil, bandages made of cloth,
and comfort on the journey because he gave the injured man his own place on the
animal he was riding. It cost him the two
silver coins that he gave to the innkeeper, and whatever he would pay on his return.
And it cost him the most precious gift that
we can give to another: it cost him time. The Samaritan was willing to suffer with suffering.
That is what it means to be a neighbor.
And, my dear brothers and sisters, that is what it means to be
a Christian. In union with the Christ who
has suffered for us, we suffer with the poor, the injured, the sick, the rejected
and the dying. We suffer with those who have
been cast to the side of the road of our society: the unborn, the elderly, the mentally
ill, and the disabled. Every Christian was
marked with the sign of Christ’s glorious sufferings in their baptism. Every vocation is marked with the blessing of Christ’s
holy cross. Mothers suffer with and for their
children. Fathers suffer with and for their
families. Husbands suffer for their wives,
wives suffer for their husbands, and priests suffer with and for their people. We are the neighbors and we are the people Christ
has called us to be when we are willing to suffer with those who are suffering.
But we were not the first to suffer. We suffer in union with Christ on the Cross. For in truth, dear brothers and sisters, we are
not the Good Samaritan in the parable. We
are the injured man. And Christ our Savior
traveling the road to the Heavenly City of Jerusalem was moved with compassion for
us. He approached us while we were still
sinners, bathed us in the wine of his blood and anointed us with the oil of gladness.
He carried us in his own body and placed us in
the inn which is his holy Church and left the precious coins of His Word and His
Sacraments until his return. As we now experience
his presence and await his return in glory, we ask for the grace to recognize those
who are suffering. We ask for the gift of
compassion in our hearts so that we will be willing to suffer. And we ask for the grace to suffer with Christ,
who has lovingly suffered for us. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church, Monroe, NC
