C Cycle – 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 15

Lk. 10:35-47

Recently I was watching my granddaughter read to her sixteen month old daughter.  The child would turn each page of the book precisely as the last word was read.  That is the problem with familiar stories. We know them so well we can repeat them with ease. . We know the message they are conveying. Today’s parable is one we know very well, and we know the point Jesus is in driving home – a visual of what it means to love neighbor.  But there is a message we easily overlook and that in it Jesus uses the three travelers. It is a parable about us and how easily we place our priorities over assisting those in need. The priest and Levite served in the temple.  What we do not know is if they were on their way to the temple or returning home after completing their time of liturgical service.  The Samaritan was the knockout punch as Samaritans were despised by the Jews.

Their appearance in the parable of the Levite and provides us with another aspect of loving neighbor that we easily overlook.  It is not just about serving someone in need, but it is about our mindset about what is good for us.  Years ago, a lady told me a story about her encounter with someone in need. During her drive to work her route took her through a dangerous and desolate part of the city.  At every traffic light, she was fearful because of the vagrants begging for money looking menacing.  At one traffic light there was a man who would wash the windshield of stopped cars, hoping for a handout.

She said despite her fear, she would hand him a dollar bill if she was stopped at that light.  One day she forgot her wallet and he was washing her window.  Her first thought was to ignore him.  Instead, she rolled down her window and apologized to him because she had nothing to give.  His response hit her was eye opening. He thanked her, saying daily everyone ignored him, even those who gave him something.  She was the first person who looked him in the eye and treated him like someone worth her attention. That acknowledgement made his day.      

Compassion, empathy and simple human decency compels should compel us to respond to those in need.  But God is demanding something more than compassion from us.  Jesus is challenging us to never let our own priorities; our own concept of what God desires to blind us to what God desires of us. Perhaps that is why Jesus chose to use a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan to challenge us to serve others even if our religious commitments demand we fulfill them.  This is not the first time Jesus reminds us about what we need to do before we do anything religious.

This parable is just a reminder of what is most important than fulfilling a religious requirement.  “…When you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go and be reconciled with your brother” (Mat. 6:24-25.

Our righteous priorities can be a source of our ability to follow the first and greatest commandments.  We are not those in the story, are we?  That is someone else.  We have opportunities each day to do something generous to someone in need.  Not just those on the side of the road asking for a handout.  We often ignore individuals we consider capable of working instead of standing by the roadside asking for a handout.  But worse than anything is our own need to keep our schedule rather than spend time assisting someone in need.  Especially if we are on the way to a religious commitment.  

Let me tell you another true story. This one involves me as I was on the way to a commitment twenty years ago. Before the age of cell phones.  It was a Saturday morning, and I was scheduled to speak at a religious conference.  The conference doors opened at 7:30 am with registration and a time of worship.  I was scheduled to speak at nine thirty.  My plans were to arrive by nine, which meant I had to leave my home by 8:15 am.  After 20 minutes of driving, I was on a bridge over a valley and noticed a stranded car on the side of the road, with a woman standing beside it.  

My first instinct was to look at the clock on my dashboard to determine if I had time to stop and help her.  If I stopped to assist her, I would certainly arrive later than I planned, possibly too late. I kept driving believing someone else would help her, Immediately after passing her, I knew my decision was wrong as the story of the priest and Levite came to my mind.  I proceeded to the next exit, tuned around, crossed the bridge on the other side, and got off on the next exit and reentered the highway toward the standard woman. Someone had stopped and was helping her.

But the lesson I learned that day was the same lesson Jesus is telling each of us this morning. For me it was always to consider first what God want me to do before I decide what I will do. Even if what we are doing is something religious, serving others and righteous.  God gives us opportunities to choose to be obedient to those two commandments before all other choices.  If you bring your gift to the altar and you have failed to help your neighbor what does that say about where our hearts are?  God gives us hard choices each day.  Think of what you have ignored this week as you bring your gift to the altar today.