Fred Rogers used to sing at the
opening of his classic children’s show, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood:
It's a beautiful day in this
neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine? Could you be
mine? …
Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please, won't you
please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?
Fred Rogers was a highly theological
educated man, an ordained Presbyterian minister who also gave generous grants
to St. Vincent’s College and Seminary (Roman Catholic) in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. I think he was well aware of the
theological significance of the concept of “neighbor,” which we will explore
through the Readings for this Sunday.
This Sunday Jesus issues us a strong
challenge to break down the barriers and prejudices that prevent us from
showing love to other human beings. Jesus’
teaching is in continuity with the best synthesis of the moral instruction of
the Old Testament and Judaism, which views every human being as a “neighbor.”
1.
The First Reading is Dt 30:10-14:
Moses said to the people:
“If only you would heed the voice
of the LORD, your God,
and keep his commandments and
statutes
that are written in this book of
the law,
when you return to the LORD, your
God,
with all your heart and all your
soul.
“For this command that I enjoin
on you today
is not too mysterious and remote
for you.
It is not up in the sky, that you
should say,
‘Who will go up in the sky to get
it for us
and tell us of it, that we may
carry it out?’
Nor is it across the sea, that
you should say,
‘Who will cross the sea to get it
for us
and tell us of it, that we may
carry it out?’
No, it is something very near to
you,
already in your mouths and in
your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”
It is hard to exaggerate the
importance of the Book of Deuteronomy to the structure and meaning of the
entire Bible. The name
“Deuteronomy” comes from the Greek deutero nomos, “the second law.” It is so named because in it Moses
repeats the Ten Commandments for the second time (cf. Ex. 20; Deut 5). Deuteronomy is the fifth and last of
the Torah, the “Books of Moses,” and it summarizes and interprets the preceding
four. Deuteronomy is thus the definitive
statement of the Mosaic Covenant and Law in its final form, just
before the people of God enter the promised land under Joshua. Moses himself dies at the end of
Deuteronomy, so this book is the final statement, the final will and testament,
of the great Lawgiver of the Israelite nation.
The importance of Deuteronomy is
shown by how often it is cited and quoted in later literature. Deuteronomy is one of the top three
most-quoted books in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament (along with
Psalms and Isaiah). Our Lord
Himself quotes exclusively from Deuteronomy in his three responses to Satan’s
temptations in the wilderness (see Matt 4:1-11)
Deuteronomy is a book of paradoxes. It includes within itself both the
loftiest articulations of the love of God (Deut 6:1-9), as well as some of the
harshest laws in the Old Testament. In
Deuteronomy, Moses is at the end of his career as leader of Israel. He has communed intimately with God
for forty years “face to face,” so he understands God’s nature and love. At the same time, he has “beaten his
head against a wall” trying to get the Israelites to follow God’s commands for
even a few days in a row. Ten
times the Book of Numbers records Israel rebelling against God and Moses in the
wilderness. Thus Moses is caught
between his vision of God’s lofty nature, and his oh-so-realistic understanding
of the deceitfulness of human nature.
Today’s Reading is taken from near
the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, and comprises one of Moses’ final speeches
to Israel before his death. He
pleads with Israel to follow God’s laws, and insists they are not too
burdensome to carry out. He
insists that God’s law is “very near to you, already in your mouths and in
your hearts; you have only to carry it out.” In other words, the law of the
God of Israel, in its essence, is the “natural law,” the fundamental law of
right and wrong that is written into our nature. As the Catechism says:
§1955 The natural law states the
first and essential precepts which govern the moral life… Its principal
precepts are expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called
"natural," not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but
because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature …
“The natural law is nothing other
than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we
must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the
creation.”
Properly understood, the heart of
the Law of Moses is an expression and extrapolation of the natural moral law,
which all persons are obliged to follow.
2. The celebrant has an option for
the choice of Responsorial Psalm. The
first option, Psalm 69, anticipates the Gospel Reading with its parable of the
Good Samaritan. In singing this
psalm, the congregation identifies itself with the poor man beaten up on the
way to Jericho. We see ourselves
as the poor and afflicted in need, who require the mercy and kindness of the
Lord, whose love is so well expressed in the actions of the Good Samaritan:
R. (cf. 33) Turn to the Lord
in your need, and you will live.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O
God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous
is your kindness:
in your great mercy turn toward
me.
R. Turn to the Lord in your
need, and you will live.
I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God,
protect me.
I will praise the name of God in
song,
and I will glorify him with
thanksgiving.
R. Turn to the Lord in your
need, and you will live.
“See, you lowly ones, and be
glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts
revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he
spurns not.”
R. Turn to the Lord in your
need, and you will live.
For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
The descendants of his servants
shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall
inhabit it.
R. Turn to the Lord in your
need, and you will live.
The second option for the
responsorial psalm picks up on the theme of the Law of God articulated in the
First Reading and the first part of the Gospel:
R.(9a) Your words, Lord, are
Spirit and life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
the decree of the LORD is
trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. Your words, Lord, are
Spirit and life.
The precepts of the LORD are
right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. Your words, Lord, are
Spirit and life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are
true,
all of them just.
R. Your words, Lord, are
Spirit and life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. Your words, Lord, are
Spirit and life.
Right and wrong are written into the
fabric of nature and the fabric of our nature. If we thought rationally, we would
discern the good from the bad. However,
due to our inclination to sin, we tend not to think rationally, but instead to rationalize. We can’t think clearly, because we
are not seeking truth, we are seeking our own pleasure. For that reason, although right and
wrong are written on the human heart, very few accurately perceive what is good
and what is evil without the help of God’s revelation. For this reason, the psalmist in
Psalm 19 praises God for the perfection of his Word, of his Law. When we receive God’s Word with
humility, and accept his definitions of good and evil, suddenly “the lights
come on.” We are able to think
clearly. In hindsight, it seems
so obvious: “Why couldn’t I see that abortion was wrong? Why couldn’t I see that it was taking
an innocent life?” Yet at that
time, we were trapped in a web of rationalization through which only God’s Word
can cut, since it is “sharper than a two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). Having been converted, we praise God
for the revelation of his Law, which suddenly has made sense of our moral
universe.
3.
The Second Reading is Col 1:15-20:
Christ Jesus is the image of the
invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all
things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers;
all things were created through
him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold
together.
He is the head of the body, the
church.
He is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself
might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was
pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all
things for him,
making peace by the blood of his
cross
through him, whether those on
earth or those in heaven.
The Second Reading helps us to
understand how the natural law written on our heart is related to God’s
supernatural revelation of Himself. God’s
highest revelation of Himself is the person Jesus Christ, whom we call the
“Word” of God. This Word busts
into our reality by taking on human flesh, walking and talking with us for
thirty years, dying, rising from the dead, and commissioning his messengers to
teach his words until he returns. Yet
this Word was also the divine person through whom the whole cosmos was created. Since in a very real sense we were
created by Jesus, it is not inexplicable that our natural sense of right and
wrong should correspond to the positive law we find in Scripture: the Ten
Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Two Greatest Commandments.
This Second Reading also reminds us
that the Christian Gospel is not just “a way” to come to God, but “the way” to
come to God. Christ Jesus is the
image of the Father; he is the creator God.
All persons, whatever their ethnic or religious background, were made
“in Christ” and in his image. Therefore,
the message of the cross is a universal message. Christ’s suffering and death is the
universal proof to all humanity of God’s merciful love for us, and his
resurrection the universal proof of God’s ultimate power and goodness. Other religions, philosophies, and
teachers may grasp various points of truth, but they are not the way to the
Father.
4.
The Gospel is Lk 10:25-37,
the Parable of the Good Samaritan:
There was a scholar of the law
who stood up to test him 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.”
Interestingly, when asked outright
how to have eternal life, Jesus does not say, “Just have faith in me and then
do whatever you want.” He
actually points to the law of God and the moral life. Living a life in accordance with
God’s law—which is a law of love—is not optional. It is an integral part of what it
means to be saved, of what is necessary to have “eternal life.” Because of the Protestant emphasis on
“salvation by faith alone,” large sectors of Americans who identify themselves
as Christians have lost sight of the fact that living according to God’s law is
a non-negotiable dimension of salvation.
The scholar of the law with whom
Jesus converses is astute. He
summarizes all 613 commands of the Mosaic Torah under two broad commands: love
of God, and love of fellow human beings.
He quotes the first command from Deuteronomy (recall our First Reading),
specifically Deut 6:5, which is part of a famous passage (Deut 6:4-9) called
the Shema in Judaism. It
begins “Hear, O Israel! [Heb. shema, yisrael!] The LORD Our God, the
LORD is One! You shall love the
LORD your God …” This Shema passage
is recited by pious Jews three times a day, and functions in Judaism much like
the Our Father or Apostles Creed does in Christianity (see here: http://www.jewfaq.org/prayer/shema.htm).
The scholar cites the second
commandment from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD your God.”
Many Christians think Jesus was
being original in summarizing the Mosaic Law as the two commands of love (see
Mark 12:28-31), but Jesus was in fact simply endorsing the best traditions of
Jewish moral and legal thought. Jews
and Christians differ over the identity of Jesus Christ, but not on the
fundamentals of the moral law.
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 this scholar of the law, we see
an example of the distinction between thinking rationally and rationalizing, as
discussed above. After Jesus’
reply, the scribe wants to “justify himself.”
He begins to rationalize: “Let me limit the number of people that the
concept ‘neighbor’ applies to, and then the moral law won’t be so demanding!”
The scribe wants to “justify
himself,” rather than to be “justified by God.” To be “justified by God,” we do need
to place absolute faith in Jesus Christ, and allow him to fill us with his Holy
Spirit, which flows through Baptism and the other sacraments. The Holy Spirit cleanses and makes us
new. The Spirit does not excuse
our sins or “let us off the hook.” Instead,
the Spirit makes it possible for us to follow God’s law of love truly, and from
the heart (Rom 8:3-4). This is
essential to what it means to be “saved.”
In response to the man’s question,
Jesus tells the famous story of the Good Samaritan. “A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho.” This was
quite a descent, because between Jerusalem and Jericho one moves from one of
the highest regions in Israel to one of the lowest, well below sea level. During this rapid descent, the
terrain becomes increasingly dry until one is surrounded by a desolate
wilderness of eroded hills pockmarked with caves that provide ample hiding
places for brigands, outlaws, revolutionaries, and thieves. This man is apparently a bit of a
fool for attempting the trip without traveling with a caravan, and he pays for
his foolishness severely.
The priest and Levite “pass by on
the other side.” It was not just
that these persons were “too busy,” as the famous Veggie Tales version would
have it. Contact with a dead
body would result in ceremonial uncleanness, preventing the priest and Levite
from performing duties in the Temple. It
was not possible to tell whether the man is alive or dead, so the priest and
Levite give him a wide berth to avoid potential contamination. Both forget the teaching of the
prophet Hosea: “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; the knowledge of God,
rather than burnt offerings” (Hos 6:6).
In other words, deeds of mercy take precedence over cultic concerns,
even in the Old Testament itself. The
priest and Levite may have been liturgically correct, but failed to grasp the
heart of God’s law.
On the other hand, a Samaritan
passes by. Samaritans were
mixed-race descendants of Israelites and Gentiles. In 722 BC, the Assyrian army
conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel and deported the middle and upper
classes. The King of Assyria
brought in several Gentile ethnic groups to replace the deported Israelites (2
Kings 17:7-41). These Gentiles
mixed with the low-class Israelites left behind, producing the Samaritans. The Samaritans offered to help build
the Temple in Jerusalem when the Jews returned from Babylonian exile c.
537-520, but they were rebuffed by the Jews (Ezra 4:1-4). The Samaritans then decided to build
their own Temple on Mt. Gerizim in northern Israelite territory. Eventually they developed a different
system of cultic purity (“kosher”) and different legal tradition (“halakha”)
than the Jews. Jews regarded
them, with some justification, as schismatics and heretics. There was no sufficient theological
justification for building a Temple to the LORD on Mt. Gerizim (see John 4:16-26),
in rivalry to the one in Jerusalem. The Samaritans
had rejected God’s covenant with David, which included the choice of Jerusalem
as the place of God’s sanctuary (see Ps 78:60-72; Ps 132).
So, this Samaritan—a mixed race
person of heretical and schismatic religious doctrines—happens to pass by on
the road, and takes notice of the man. Although
the Samaritan has admittedly wrong views about where to worship and how, he does
understand that mercy takes precedence over cultic purity (Hos. 6:6), and
thus—ironically—he has a better fundamental understanding of the Law of God
than the priest or Levite. He
bandages the man’s wounds and cares for him as if he were a family member.
At the end of the parable, Jesus
says, “Who was a neighbor to the man?” and tells the scholar of the law, “Go
and do likewise.” Notice how
Jesus shifts the discussion. The
scholar had asked “Who is my neighbor (to me)?” but Jesus teaches a lesson on
how to be a neighbor to other people.
It is a lesson that, no doubt, sat very uncomfortably with the scholar
of the law, because Jews absolutely despised Samaritans. The idea that the mercy of God should
be expressed across borders of heresy, schism, and cultic purity was very hard
to accept.
There is a deeper level of meaning
to the parable. The beaten man
is a symbol of Everyman, of the human condition. The priest and Levite represent the
Old Covenant (i.e. the Mosaic Covenant), which is good in itself but does not
have the power to save us. The
Good Samaritan is a type of Jesus himself.
Although Jesus was not a Samaritan, he was accused of being one (John
8:48) and he consistently showed love for the Samaritan people (John 4; Luke
9:51-55). The Jewish religious
authorities viewed Jesus as similar to a “Samaritan,” in that he did not
observe the “proper” cleanliness laws and departed from the standard Jewish
tradition (the teachings of the elders) in his interpretation of the Law. Thus Jesus is the one rejected by the
religious leaders, who nonetheless comes to us, observes our pitiful condition,
and condescends to bandage our “wounds” and care for us, even though it means
“contaminating” himself by contact with our corruption and sin.
I am aware that the Christian
tradition of seeing Jesus typified in the Good Samaritan is widely rejected by
scholars, but I believe the tradition is correct. Jesus often told parables with
multiple levels of meaning, and he was known to tell parables in which one of
the characters was an image of himself (see Matt 21:33-41). I believe this is the case also with
the Good Samaritan parable.
To summarize the message of today’s
Readings: God’s Law for us is fundamentally expressed in the twin commands of
love of God and love of neighbor. The
interpretation of the rest of God’s laws should be directed to the fulfillment
of these two commands. God’s
love has been shown to us, sinners that we are, by Jesus Christ taking
compassion on our pitiful state and “bandaging our wounds.” We should show this same compassion
to others, being willing to overlook whatever boundaries—race, religion,
political party, culture, etc.—that would otherwise prevent us from recognizing
a person as our “neighbor.” This does not
mean expressing approval of or condoning sin and sinful lifestyles, but rather
loving persons, despite their sin, and drawing them through love to find the
joy of walking according to God’s law.
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