Sunday Scripture Readings

Printer-friendly versionSend to friend FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIMES JULY 11 Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37 OUR GOOD NEWS: What’s unusual about Christian love? Love is the law! Moses’ farewell speech delivered just before the Israelites entered the Promised Land (first reading) was in fact composed centuries later, when Israel stood under threat of destruction through conquest and exile. The effect is something like having George Washington write a letter of advice to Americans living in 2004. The author of Deuteronomy caused Israel’s greatest leader to address his own generation, offering encouragement as well as practical advice for a time of national failure and seeming abandonment by God. Moses’ message is practical and positive: There is still hope! Don’t let the weight of past sins bring on despair. By staying faithful to God’s law, every Israelite — no matter where he or she lives or how hopeless the condition seems — can find reconciliation with God. But hope depends upon careful obedience: "If only you listen ... obey ... return." God’s will moreover does not lie beyond human ability to learn and to practice it. His "law" — Torah (better translated as instruction or guidance) — is no remote and esoteric wisdom, a secret knowledge difficult to come by. It can be discussed and taught, taken to heart, put into action every day. God’s Torah is good because it is the only way to fullness of life. Today’s first reading emphasizes the necessity and value of laws — concrete guidance for doing God’s will and finding true happiness now as well as in the afterlife. Moreover, to be effective, law must constantly be adapted for new situations. The Gospel selection, a familiar story of the good Samaritan, focuses on a "man" on a journey, doubtlessly Jewish, who ill-advisedly traveled a 20-mile route that descended 3,300 feet. It was nicknamed the "Bloody Road" because frequent twists and turns afforded haven for highwaymen. Severely mugged by one such, the unfortunate person lay helpless in a lonely, desert area. "By coincidence, a priest was going down the same road. He saw the man and made a detour around him." Apparently, his motive was to avoid ritual impurity from contact with a possible corpse. Play it safe! The victim looked "half-dead" and probably was. More compassionate behavior might be expected from the "Levite," a subordinate temple minister (something like our modern permanent deacon). But both agreed that the victim was no neighbor with whom they had anything to do. If compassion was not forthcoming from the clergy, the "Samaritan" as an enemy of Jews would clearly be exempted from feelings of neighborliness. And yet he was "moved to pity at the sight." After administering emergency first aid, easing pain and disinfecting the wounds, the Samaritan gave up his comfortable seat to walk on foot as far as the nearest inn. His "two denarii" purchased first-class service for several days, and served as down payment committing the innkeeper for as long as the injured man needed to remain and recover. The Samaritan’s theology may have been imperfect, but his credit was good. Jesus sent away His carefully orthodox examiner with instructions to obey the law of Moses — by imitating a hated heretic!

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