Fifteenth Sunday of ORDINARY, Cycle C

First: Dt 30:10-14; Second: Col 1:15-20; Gospel: Lk 10:25-37

THEME of the READINGS

The "Jesus issue" could be the common denominator of this Sunday’s liturgical texts. Jesus is a great question, and the Bible offers us a great answer. In the Gospel, Jesus introduces himself as the Good Samaritan, available for any need, wherever the need may arise and for whoever may be in need. The first reading talks to us about the Word which is near, in the mouth and in the heart of the people, and this Word which is near is identified with Jesus Christ, the God-man, who speaks to us with a man’s words. In the Letter to the Colossians, in an ancient and beautiful Christological hymn, Jesus is praised as the first-born of all of creation, to whom everything refers and in whom everything achieves its fullness.

DOCTrinal MESSAGE

Jesus’ pseudonym: The Good Samaritan. The parable of the Good Samaritan is not only a Christian treasure, but a wealth for all humankind. Perhaps it would not be exaggerating to say that there is no one who hasn’t heard it, who has not tried to interpret it at some point in his life. This is why it should be pointed out that it is not a parable that was turned into a life story but a life story turned into a parable. This is why it may be said that "Good Samaritan" is a pseudonym for "Jesus". When the scribe asked who his neighbor was, Jesus could have replied directly, "I am." Instead, he preferred to choose the way of the parable and turn the account into a reflection on his existence, which he gave entirely to human beings out of love. Jesus Christ really is the neighbor of all human beings. In other words, he is near, accessible, available, welcoming, close in any human situation or circumstance. An interesting perspective from which we can read the Gospel is that of "nearness", adopting as a point of departure the great mystery of the Incarnation, through which God becomes close to human beings in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is close to the children, to the sick, to the disciples, to the restless, to the powerful, to the poor and needy, to all. Jesus Christ’s closeness to human beings is part of the mystery of his Incarnation and birth.

Jesus, the Word that is near. According to the author of Deuteronomy, the Word is God’s revelation at first on Mt Sinai and then in the Moab plain. It is a divine revelation not extrinsic to nature, but truly an inner Word, which all the followers of Jesus Christ possess and make their own; a Word and a revelation that take flesh in Jesus Christ. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Word that resounds in all the words of the Bible. He is the Word that, by the work of the Holy Spirit, enters the soul of the believer and dwells in it, making it his home. The Word is in our mouth, because when we read the Gospel, in it we read Christ. It is in our heart, because the Word is not a hollow sound, nor is it mere thought, but a person, whom one gets to know and love in closeness, with the heart. To a Christian, this near and inner Word which is in his mouth and in his heart is Jesus Christ. He is the Word that draws us close to the knowledge and nearness of God, which draws us close to the true knowledge of ourselves and of the meaning of all creation.

Jesus, the first-born of creation. The hymn in the second reading resorts to various images to respond to the "Jesus issue". Jesus is the visible image of the unseen God, he is the first-born, the archetype of all creatures: thus he is the reference point of the cosmos and history. Ultimately, all of creation looks to Jesus Christ as its model, its raison d’être, its ultimate destiny. It is for this reason that the hymn of the Letter to the Colossians tells us that all fullness resides in Jesus Christ. Finally, it designates Jesus with two other names: Head of the Body (that is, the Church, in other words the center of cohesion and guidance of Christians), and first-born from the dead: he in whom we are shown ahead of time the ultimate destiny of all human beings who truly seek God. As the first-born of creation, he encompasses everything, he seals everything with his image and love.

PASTORal SUGGESTIONS

Do the same yourself. Jesus is the Good Samaritan, the man closest to every human being and to all human beings. The greatness of the Christian vocation lies in the fact that Jesus does not say to us, "Go, and teach the same yourself," but, "Go and do the same yourself." As James will tell us, "Faith without works is a dead faith." Today each Christian is called to "repeat" Jesus in his life, to make the "Good Samaritan" his own pseudonym. Jesus says to some Christians, "Go and do the same in your house: with your mother who is sick; with your neighbor, who is elderly and cannot do many things on his own; with your son who had an accident and will have to live in a wheel chair for the rest of his life." To other Christians, Jesus will say, "Go and do the same when you walk in the street, giving alms with pleasure to those that ask you for them, giving information amiably to those who ask you for directions or for the name of a store; go and do the same when you ride the bus or the subway, giving up your seat to the elderly, to mothers with small children, to the disabled, being respectful and being in control of yourself when the bus is full and you are pushed from all sides, or when someone even tries to pick your pocket." Go and do the same yourself: this is a sentence that we should bear in our minds and in our hearts every day, a sentence that has an enormous potential for creativity and gives new ideas for what we can do for our brothers and sisters. Go and do the same yourself: this sentence alone is capable of inventing the future, of forging a new world. How many of us Christians will take notice of it?

A Word addressed to you. All of the Bible is the Word, the Word of God. The human words in which the Bible is written are like sounds that reach our ears and penetrate within us. Through them we hear the Word of God, his message of truth, of love, of true Christian humanism. It is a Word addressed to all, because we can all understand it and it can open the doors of salvation to us all. However, it is especially a Word addressed personally to each one of us, to you. It may occur that when you read a text in the Bible, other people are reading the same text in some other corner of the world; but the message will be absolutely personal, it will be addressed to you, it will have your name on it. When the three readings are read in the liturgy of the Word, or during Mass, all those in attendance listen to the same texts, but they resound in a different way in each person and to each person they convey special messages. To the Word of God numbers are not important: it is the person, each person in his unique and unrepeatable nature, which makes him different from all others. A Father of the Church said that the Gospel is like a letter that God writes each human being. It is not a protocol letter or a purely administrative letter, but one written by a father to his son, a letter in which the father speaks of himself with great simplicity, but at the same time manifests his most intimate thoughts and wishes. Listen to this Word of God for you. In it you are given life and happiness, in it you are given the key to live, giving a meaning to your existence. Do not be afraid of the lightness of the Word. It seems fragile and light, but it is as strong as steel. It is the Word of God!

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOC.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].