Go and do Likewise

XV Sunday “C”

LuKe 10:25-37

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

In today’s gospel there are two important questions: the scholar asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus asks the scholar, “Which one treated the other as a neighbor?” The two questions seem to be asking the same thing, but really they are completely different.

In the first question the scholar was looking at the other person and in Jesus’ question he asks us to look at ourselves. The scholar would have been considered a good Jew in Jesus day. He knew the law of God and was probably faithful to it. If he was a Catholic Christian today he would be the person who never misses mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of obligation. He would keep all the precepts of the Church, he would be exact in his tithe to the Church, he would fast exactly one hour before communion, he’d be married in the Church and never would he be divorced. He would be exact in following all of the rules. Others would look at him as an exemplar Catholic and he probably would look down on those who fell short, the divorced, gays, women who had an abortion, people who went to their kids soccer game on Sunday instead of going to Church.

When he asked Jesus who is my neighbor, remember he already knew the rule, but he wanted Jesus to be exact. What he wanted Jesus to do was to make this group of neighbors even smaller and smaller. He would love his neighbor, but only if the neighbor was also a good Catholic, not divorced, or gay. He would look down on the immigrants, the ones who came in illegally, who didn’t have papers and didn’t speak English. His idea of his neighbor would be the person who looked like him, talked like him, and acted like him.

But Jesus does the exact opposite. Rather than making the group of neighbors smaller and more manageable he keeps widening the circle. For the follower of Jesus everyone is your neighbor, we have a responsibility to all.

Jesus asks the Scholar, who was the one who treated the other as his neighbor? And the scholar answers correctly, the one who treated him with compassion.

The Catholic Church exists not to help us obey laws, not to make sure that we keep all the precepts of the church. No the Church exists to help us to see the other as our brother or sister, as the one who has a claim on our mercy and compassion. In the United States today we are blest with many immigrants. People who came to this country seeking a better life, just like my great grandparents did would they came here from Poland 150 years ago. We have the opportunity to treat the immigrant as the good Samaritan did, to receive them with compassion. Remember the key question is, not who is my neighbor, but how do I treat my neighbor who is in need.

Now let us go and do likewise. Let us be the Good Samaritans in the world today.