THE WORD
FIRST READING: Dt 30,10-14
Moses said to the people: Because you will obey the voice of the LORD, your God, keeping the commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you return to the LORD, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being.
For this command which I am giving you today is not too wondrous or remote for you. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” 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 do it?” No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.
SECOND READING: Col 1,15-20
He is the image of the invisible God,
the fi rstborn 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 fi rstborn 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.
GOSPEL: Lk 10,25-37
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.”
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 halfdead.
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 OTHER WORDS
The Palestinian Israeli conflict that hugs the headlines of newspapers in the world every now and then has been there since the partition of Palestine in 1947. This is a relationship of mutual retaliation; the Israeli with their sophisticated arms and the Palestinians with their suicide bombers.
The hatred that this situation has generated runs in the blood of both people especially those who have lost loved ones in the unending mutual retaliation.
I cite this contemporary phenomenon because it could help us approximate an understanding of the message of today’s gospel. What the Jews felt when they heard this parable where a Samaritan (Palestinian) came to the aid of a Jew is the same dislocating feeling Israelis would feel today when they hear that it was a Palestinian who came to the rescue. The Samaritan/Palestinian behaved as neighbor to the Jew who fell among robbers. Samaritan/Palestinian as my neighbor is an impossibility to a Jew. These words: Palestinian neighbor to Jews cannot be and should never be connected together.
Jesus who himself was a Jew knew of the deep seated cultural conflict between Samaritans and Jews. Was Jesus then insensitive or bereft of feeling and understanding when he insisted on this message of love of neighbor to his fellow Jews? He could have used a politically safer example.
In this parable Jesus was proclaiming the very heart of his message, the reason why he was sent by his Father – to bring the message of the Kingdom, of God’s unconditional love to all his creatures because he is Father to us all. To understand this central message of Christianity is to experience first that God is truly Father to me personally and to all my fellow human beings. This and no other is why we should love our neighbor. Without this experience it is almost impossible to understand, much less, live the injunctions to love the neighbor. Matthew in his gospel clearly teaches that our love for the neighbor is God’s basis for deciding who and who will not be part of his Kingdom.
Because I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was naked, I was in prison, I was needy and you did this to me. It is in that same gospel where Jesus also gives us another impelling reason to love the neighbor. . Whatever you do to the least of your neighbor, you do it to me.
Before, people thought that heaven was a place reserved for a chosen few, especially those who lived holy and saintly lives. With this injunction to love the neighbor, God has opened the gates of heaven for everybody, not anymore to a chosen few. All of us are surrounded with neighbors all our waking hours. With this injunction to love the neighbor all of us are given by God the keys to enter heaven. Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do it also to me.
- Fr. Magdaleno Fabiosa, SVD | USC, Talamban, Cebu City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
