That person on the side of the road.

Gospel of the Good Samaritan

The Gospel of the Good Samaritan has never hit me as strongly as it did this week.  It's not that I'm on some pietistic kick, or that I was particularly struck by my prayer this week, instead, this Gospel passage struck me because in a seeming barrage of videos and news clips, I saw that trampled man in the faces of so many this week.  Yes, it's easy to say that the man by the side of the road was those killed by cops, or the cops killed in Dallas, but that's not exactly what struck me.  What hit me the most was seeing how so many of us were so readily able to justify the killings or at least make up a good excuse for them.  In one social media quote, I read how one person posted the criminal record of one of the murder victims, as if that justified the killing.  Others wrote about the good deeds that these men had done in their lives and hailed them as heroes, or perhaps, modern-day Saints.  Either way, yes, these things were there, and yes, they demand some profound reflection from each of us, but that's not where I saw the man fallen by the wayside.  Instead, it struck me to see the priest and the scholar of the law in me!  And truth be told, all too often, those men who ran away from the injured man, are often each of us.  I saw him in those who post their anger against Muslims, without knowing a single Muslim.  Or those who discriminate against Latinos, Gays, Blacks or anyone else who doesn't look like them, without really knowing any.  I saw the man fallen by the wayside, to be each of us when we are left without recourse to a fair reception in the public sphere, or each of us when we find ourselves judged before even uttering one word.  I also see each of us becoming the priest or the scholar when we choose to actively avoid anything or anyone who is not like us, or who is different.  This passage isn't about serving our neighbor when it suits us, it is about going beyond our comfort zones and serving those in need.  Furthermore, this passage isn't about serving a Jew, a Muslim, a Gay, a Latino, a Black, a Cop or any other title, it is about serving our brother and sister, a fellow HUMAN BEING!  That is what struck me in a very particular manner this week, it's not about the service of a Samaritan to a fallen Jew, but about the care that one human being offers another.  This then brought me to question myself, what are those things within my own worldview that prevent me from truly being able to serve?  What lenses have I put on that influence the way I am with others, especially when that "other" calls me beyond my area of expertise?  The Gospel passage today is radical, not because it shows the image of one person serving unconditionally, but because it shows one person serving without consideration of who or what the person in need is.  In my own journey to serve God, and to the face of Christ in the world today, I believe that this passage calls me to go and be love to all the world, yes, even those who don't believe, not because I hope to convert them, but because I have known Love.  We have each experienced Love, my hope is that we can then go and love others and share with them, not because they are this or that, but because they are our fellow human being.  As always, know that you are beautiful and you are loved.  God bless you.  Fr. Rick