• 15th Sunday Ordinary (C), July 15, 2007
• Theme: Who Is My Neighbor?

• “Who is my neighbor?”
• That is the question a scholar of the Mosaic Law asks Jesus in today’s gospel.
• It is meant as a test for Jesus.
• Jesus turns the question around and it becomes a test for the one asking the question.
• It also becomes a test for us.

• “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” the scholar asks.
• Of course he knew the answer from the religious teachings.
• He quotes from two biblical books (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your being, with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”
• He knew the right answer, Jesus tells him.
• He was feeling pretty content and could say to himself,
• I live a good life.
• I don’t hurt anyone.
• It is what a most of us in church today could say as well.
• Jesus says, “Fine, go do it.”
• Feeling quite satisfied with himself, the man asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
• Then Jesus challenges even the broad definition of “neighbor” that included all Jews.
• Jesus responds with a parable.
• The parables always call us to rethink our assumptions.
• The parable of the Good Samaritan can suffer from over exposure.
• We have heard it often.
• But sometimes we can miss the final question Jesus asks, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’s victim?”
• “Who is my neighbor?” is the question that hangs in the air.
• Note, the wounded person was coming from Jerusalem so the strong hint is that he was a Jew.
• The man who helped was a Samaritan.
• Between those two groups there were centuries of hatred and religious rivalry.
• For us it would like saying the person who helped the victim was a member of al Qaeda.
• The hearers were shocked just as we would be shocked.

• For Jesus, it is not about us – the helper – it is about the victim.
• When another has needs, Jesus teaches, we need to be neighbors.
• There are no reserve clauses.
• It’s not about whether people deserve our help or not.
• Whether they are grateful or not
• Whether they are “the deserving poor,” or not
• As Luke Timothy Johnson says in his book, Sacra Pagina, “The point, we learn, is not who deserves to be cared for, but rather the demand to become a person who treats everyone encountered - however frightening, alien, naked or defenseless – with compassion”

• We build walls between us: in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and between nations.
• Jesus wants to dismantle them, stone by stone.
• The Eucharist we share today is the food that nourishes us to become neighbors to all.
• (cf. Jude Siciliano – Preacher’s Exchange)

• On Monday night, here at Blessed Sacrament, we will have a chance to put the Gospel message of Jesus into practice.
• L. A. Voice is an organization of 20 Faith Communities in the Los Angeles area.
• It is part of the Jesuit founded PICO national network of community organizations.
• On Monday night, we will invite City Council President, Eric Garcetti; Deputy Mayor for Housing, Helmi Hesserich; and Housing Department General Manager, Mercedes Marquez to address the issue of the shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles and specifically in Hollywood.
• We will ask them to agree to three points:
• To offer proactive education of Renters Rights
• To quickly build the Housing Trust Fund to $100 million
• To energetically work toward a mechanism that will provide mixed-priced rental housing for our community
• Who is my neighbor?
• Jesus says it is the person in need.
• There is a severe lack of affordable housing for many neighbors in this city.
• We are all invited to be “Good Samaritans” and make our voices heard.

• As we continue with our liturgy,
• Let us thank the Lord for God’s attentiveness to our needs
• Let us pray that we can learn to be good neighbors to all God’s people.

• Amen

Comments