The Good Samaritan

Pastor’s Column

15^th Sunday Ordinary Time C

July 13, 2025

Jerusalem is built on the heights of Judea. When a traveler journeyed "down" to Jericho, he literally descended rapidly through a narrow canyon to the eastern desert floor near the Dead Sea far below. There was only one road, and robbers often lay in wait at strategic points, hiding in wait for unwary travelers, especially in those places where the walls were steep and narrow. The residents of Jerusalem were all familiar with this dangerous road. 

In today's gospel, a traveler is ambushed, robbed, beaten up, and left for dead. We modern-day listeners are scandalized that both a priest and a Levite—religious professionals—ignored this poor man completely. But actually, in their minds, they had very good reasons for doing this. They would not have wanted to become ritually impure by coming in contact with a dead or almost-dead man. They were trying to follow the law as they interpreted it. They thought they were doing God's will by ignoring the man. Perhaps they thought it better to cross to the other side of the road, to avoid taking a chance. But the Lord was displeased with this action.

Sometimes, we too have trouble discerning God's will in our lives. So today, Jesus goes right to the heart of the issue: What is most important in life? How can we be most pleasing to God in our actions? What does God want from us most of all? We must find the answer to this question, because God holds the key to eternal life, and our eternal future depends on our actions now and our faith.

Today we hear the answer. The Levites and the priests were technically right, but what Jesus pointed out was that if you see your brother and sister in need and fail to love them, you are not pleasing God, for God is love. Loving actions are what are most pleasing to God. It's true we can't help everyone, but if I avoid helping anyone, or think mostly of myself, I'm probably missing all the action.

In a very real sense, all of us are like the man robbed and left for dead. Jesus is the one that came upon us, tended to our wounds, and went the extra mile for us. In fact, he went so far as to die for us, so that we could live forever. He didn't have to do this for us. No, he acted out of love. Through this parable, Jesus lets us know that he expects us to have love for our neighbor, as he did for us. Our neighbor will be the person we might come across that we give a kind word to, the one who may need assistance in a way that we can provide, that we pray for, help financially, are patient with, go the extra mile for. In these and endless other ways, we find opportunities to imitate the one who also loved us in just this way, and he really notices.

Father Gary