COMMENT ON THE LITURGY OF THE THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Collect
Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings
Gal 3:16-22; Lc 10:23-37
Comment
To love God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. There is no dispute between the scribe and Jesus as to whether this is the first and greatest commandment. Note that Matthew's parallel passage adds "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments", while Mark adds "There is no commandment greater than these", using the singular for the two commandments as if to indicate that these are the two sides of the same coin: "For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen" (1 Jn 4:20).
But who is our neighbor according to Jesus? In the Old Testament, every member of the people of Israel or the foreigner who lives among the Jews is considered a neighbor. In later times, pagan proselytes were also included, but the Samaritans, with whom the Jews shared an ancient hostility, were certainly not included. Precisely on this point, the question of the doctor of the law to Jesus focuses: Who is my neighbor? Jesus responds with a parable, the protagonist of which is a man robbed and beaten up. First a priest, then a Levite, and last a Samaritan pass along the way.
The first two "go straight", perhaps also out of fear of contracting a ritual impurity, touching a "half dead" man; the corpses were in fact considered unclean. The Samaritans, to which the third traveler belongs, did not worship God at the temple in Jerusalem but carried out a syncretistic cult on Mount Gerizim. Hence the hostility of the Israelites.
Yet love unites what is far away. It does not cancel the differences, but overcomes "the fear of contagion". As Paul affirms in his letter to the Galatians, love is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), together with "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal 5:22-23). No religious norm can ever exempt us from taking care of those wounded, from loving those who have fallen on the street "under the blows of brigands", under the lash of temptations and the wounds of sin. Like the Samaritan, we are called to soothe the wounds and entrust to the "owner of the inn" - who is Christ himself - the man "half dead", because God does not want the sinner to die but to convert and live (Ez 18:23).
Jesus extends the duty of charity beyond the confines of our social, cultural, and ethnic fences: our brother is one who needs an evangelization that is above all the gift of a living and effective word. Christ revealed to us that the face of the invisible God is hidden in man and that a purely legalistic religiosity is not authentic, without repercussions on our way of being in the world. This is the condition for inheriting eternal life (v. 25) because it belongs to that faith which becomes action, not to win merit, but to show gratitude to God who first helped us. "Do this and you will live" (v. 28), and "Go and do likewise" (v. 37). The verb "to do" opens and closes this Gospel narration.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
