Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) Jul 10, 2016

 Last Sunday we heard Fr. Steven talking about the question: where is God among all of the recent terrorist attack in Bangladesh, Airport in Istanbul, and Orlando, FL.

I remember a few years ago; a fire fighter pulled and saved a person from a fired car right before it exploded. We all thought he would be called hero or get a thank you note from that person, but unfortunately, this Fire Fighter was gotten a law suit for causing that person to be paralyzed. .

As we reflect on the gospel reading today, We think we live in a society that makes us like those priests and Levies, we want to protect ourselves from the trouble, the law suit, like the priest and the Levies did not want touch impurity. These societies want to live a free world, they want to be free, free to abortion, free to same sex marriage, and choose to remove God from our society and our school, then they blame God for everything that happens to them and things that happened the way they didn’t expect.

            If we focus on the parable today, we reflect on the word Jesus recommends us at the end of the parable "Go and do likewise."  

  It is crystal clear Jesus explains to us the great commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Today the Church reminds us that we should be striving to follow it. But this parable also has another dimension.

The Good Samaritan is, above all, a self-portrait of Jesus and what Jesus has done for us, for the human family as a whole, and for each of us individually.

We were like the man left on the side of road to die. Each of us has been robbed of our original holiness by original sin.  

Our selfishness and sins, and the sins of others, have deeply wounded our souls.  We lay on the side of life's path in need of a Savior.  We have been bruised and broken and wounded by life in a fallen world.

In his incarnation, Jesus comes to us like the Good Samaritan. He is the merciful Lord who heals and restores us with the oil and wine of his sacraments, who pays for our salvation with his own sacrifice on the cross at Calvary, who entrusts the boundless riches of his grace to his own innkeeper, the Church, who in turn watches over our convalescence, our growth into Christian maturity, until Jesus will come again.  If Jesus commands us to be Good Samaritans to one another, it's only because he has walked the path ahead of us.     

     In this self-portrait, Jesus shows us what kind of friend he wants to be for us. What exactly does the Good Samaritan do? He puts himself out; he goes out of his way, to save a half-dead traveler, someone he doesn't know, and someone who belongs to a social group that despises his own social group,

Like Jews and Samaritans had been longstanding enemies at the time of Christ.

First of all, this meant taking risk. Playing dead was a popular ploy of Palestine's experienced roadside thieves and brigands. They would pretend to be injured, and when a kind traveler stooped down to help, the gang of thieves would pop out of their hiding place and attack.  

Second, this attention was costly. The Good Samaritan had to use up his own oil and wine to treat the wounds. He had to leave money with the innkeeper to cover expenses.

Third, it was inconvenient. The Samaritan was on the road for business, maybe very important business.   Stopping at the scene of the accident and taking the injured man to safety, would delay his trip. 

    In short, the whole thing was really a bad investment, practically speaking; we may end up being sued for being negligent.

But friends do that. They put themselves out for their friends. They take risks for them and make sacrifices for them. That's what Christ did for us, to prove what kind of friend he is. Just look at the crucifix. And if we value his friendship, and want to be his friend, we will, gladly even if clumsily, "go and do the same."

    We live in a fallen world, we ourselves are fallen. We need Christ.  Christ is our Good Samaritan. Only Christ's help can get us back on our feet, keep us there, and infuse in us the inner, spiritual strength we all know we should have. In a culture drunk with self-indulgence, self-reliance, and extreme individualism, we need to be reminded of this truth.

            The Church has reminded us of it today. During this Mass, let's thank our Lord for coming to save us, for not walking by, like the priest and the Levites, but stopping beside us, going out of his way for us.   And he does it again this morning, by coming to strengthen us in Holy Communion, let's promise him that we will not just thank him with our words, but also with our actions.

 Every Christian is called to be another Christ. Christ wants to reach out to the people in our circles of friends and family, just as the Good Samaritan reached out to the unfortunate man who had been robbed and beaten. And he wants to reach out through us. Each of us knows people who have been robbed and beaten up by the troubles of life in this fallen world.

This week, encouraged by the example Christ gives us in this parable, and nourished with his very own supernatural strength through the Eucharist that we will receive, let's allow Christ to reach out to that person through us. By inviting us to be his Good Samaritan coworkers, Jesus gives us an opportunity to show him how grateful we really are. This week, let's make sure the opportunity doesn't slip by unnoticed. Let's obey Christ's command to "Go and do likewise." If we do, the Lord promises, we become truly alive.