Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, July 14, 2013.
The Good Samaritan
Amos is a cranky prophet, speaking of gloom and destruction, foretelling an angry God who threatens to lay waste to the Israel that God once protected. Amaziah and Jeroboam, the high priest and king of Israel, want Amos to shut up, go home to Judea, and leave them alone. Why is Amos so angry? Israel has failed to be righteous. Like the priest and the Levite in the Good Samaritan story, the people of Israel have failed to love their neighbors as themselves, and that broke Israel’s covenant with God.
Psalm: Psalm 82
Love God and love our neighbor. This great commandment resonates through both testaments. It leaves no doubt that this duty to our neighbor gives priority to the weak, the poor and the oppressed. The Psalmist sings, “Give justice to the weak and the orphan … the lowly and the destitute … the weak and the needy.” Just as Jesus taught in the parable of the Samaritan, so are we called to love our neighbors – all of our neighbors – as we love God.
Second Reading: Colossians 1:1-14
The flowery opening verses of Paul’s letters, bible scholars say, are simply “epistolary prose,” ancient introductory verbiage akin to, “To whom it may concern.” Read closely, though, Paul is greeting the Colossians with hopeful, prayerful words: He prays for them constantly. He is glad that their new faith is bearing fruit. He prays that they will grow in good works and knowledge of God, gain strength, and be prepared to endure whatever comes their way for their love of Christ.
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Who doesn’t love the old favorite bible stories? The Parable of the Good Samaritan is so familiar, so reassuring, that it makes us happy to hear it again, with its twist at the end: The victim’s compatriots didn’t do so well, while the fellow we thought would be the bad guy turns out to be the good one. Take note, though, that this story does not come out of nowhere. It is Jesus’s answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus, like the prophet Amos and the Psalmist, tells us, “Everyone is your neighbor. Even your enemy. Not just the friend who looks and thinks and acts like you.”