Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for July 10, 2016
Le Bon Samaritain (“The Good Samaritan”), oil painting by Aimé Nicolas Morot, 1880.
Petit Palais, Paris.
Love God, love our neighbor: We hear echoes of this most fundamental commandment, in various ways, in all our readings today, culminating in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. We may have to listen closely to find it in Amos, though, as the prophet speaks of gloom and destruction, warning an unwilling high priest and king that an angry God may lay waste to the Israel that God once protected. But Amos keeps proclaiming that Israel has failed to be righteous. Just as a priest and a Levite will fail to help the injured man on the road to Jericho, the people of Israel failed to love their neighbors as themselves.
First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Love God, love our neighbor: We hear echoes of this most fundamental commandment in all our readings today, culminating in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Our reading from Deuteronomy reminds the people that God takes delight in assuring their prosperity because they turn to God “with all your heart and with all your soul.” These are the very words with which the lawyer would respond to Jesus’ invitation to describe the law. And just as Jesus went on to show in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the most basic summary of the law – Torah – is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
In verses aligned with the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Psalmist sings of a God who presides over all nations. God reminds us of the law’s basic command: “Save the weak and the orphan; defend the humble and needy; Rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the power of the wicked.”
Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 25:1-9
In this Psalm we lift up our souls and place our trust in God, asking for protection against our enemies and those who would humiliate us. This may seem far afield from the Good Samaritan’s action, but the Psalm soon turns, recalling God’s everlasting compassion and steadfast love. As God guides the humble and shows the lowly God’s way, so are we called to keep God’s covenant to love our neighbors as the Samaritan did.
Second Reading: Colossians 1:1-14
Today we begin a three-week visit with the letter to the people of Colossae, a small city in Asia Minor (now Turkey). Although the letter’s opening phrases name Paul as author, most modern Bible scholars believe this letter was written by a follower. The letter begins with hopeful, prayerful words: He prays for them constantly. He is glad that their new faith is bearing fruit. He prays that they will love one another, 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
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a favorite. Jesus turns the familiar upside-down: The victim’s own compatriots didn’t behave well, while the one that we might expect to be the bad guy turns out to be the good one. It’s important to remember, though, that this parable, like all of Jesus’ parables, does not stand alone. It follows from Jesus’ conversation with the lawyer. It’s Jesus’ answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus follows in the tradition of today’s First Reading and Psalm as he tells us, “Everyone is our neighbor. Even our enemy. Not just the friend who looks and thinks and acts like us.”