A Priest, A Rabbi, And A Nun Walk Into A Bar… | October 5, 2015

 October 5, 2015

The parable of the Good Samaritan starts out sounding like a cheesy joke doesn’t it? A Priest, A Rabbi, and a Nun walked into a bar….Maybe Jesus had a voice like Fozzie Bear and a sidekick to play the comedy punch line rim shot on the drum. What threw the crowd off and indicated that this was a parable was the mention of a Samaritan. Perhaps there was hissing and booing from the audience like when a villain walks on the stage of a children’s musical. A Samaritan????? This joke sucks. He knew he had their attention.

The scene leading up to the parable was a scholar of the law, or a Smarty Pants, was challenging Jesus’ on his knowledge of the law. I’m sure scenarios like this really made his day because it was the perfect set up for this parable that he had been storing in his back pocket for just the right time and place. The Smarty Pants starts out with, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus probably thought, you silly thing, there is nothing you can do to inherit eternal life, grace is freely given, but instead he does the Jesus return challenge question, “What does the law say? How do you read it?” I find this second question interesting because he knows that sometimes in our human condition we might read the word of God with our own opinions and beliefs thrown into it and that can definitely alter its meaning depending on the state of our hearts. Smarty Pants gives his nicely memorized answer quoting Deuteronomy 6: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Maybe Jesus lead the crowd in a slow clap because he had the right answer, or maybe his sidekick played a ding ding ding on his ancient drum set, or maybe all of Smarty Pants’ smarty pants friends did their best end zone celebratory dances swinging their prayer shawls and chest bumping each other. Jesus said, “You have answered correctly.” Of course Smarty Pants already knew that, but then Jesus says, “Do this and you will live.” Insert the words “when you do this you will live.” He’s calling him out. Having the correct answer is not enough, but giving your life to God has to be a verb, it must be lived out for it to give life.

Smarty Pants might have missed the subtle smack down and moved onto his next challenge question, “And who it my neighbor?” He was sure Jesus was going to say something completely outrageous and that the crowd would be so horrified that they would have to choose Smarty Pants’ side in this duel. So Jesus delivered! Both the Priest and the Levite saw the man and because it says that they passed on the other side, it indicates that they both thought he was dead. Jewish ritual laws forbid Priests and Levites to come in contact with dead bodies or they will be considered unclean and therefore unable to perform the sacrificial rituals at the temple until they are purified. This detail makes them sound a little less callous for sure, however, Jesus’ point is clear, sometimes religious practices get in the way of our tending to each other’s real and immediate needs (insert Pope Francis stopping the car in the middle of a parade to get out and kiss a young man with cerebral palsy). Keep it in check friends.

Enter the scene (cue the soundtrack from “Jaws” for evil is lurking), THE SAMARITAN!!! Boo!!! Hiss!!! I love me some good audience participation. Jesus was a master storyteller! This would be the absolute worst character to use with the Jews. Imagine the most controversial character for you to enter the story. By now, they were on the edge of their seats, “Oh he did not just say a Samaritan (snapping their fingers into a “z”)!” Pay attention to the qualities that Jesus gives the Samaritan. He was moved with compassion, he approached the victim, he covered the victim’s wounds with wine and oil, he bandaged the wounds, he lifted him up and carried him to safety, he paid for his care, and he checked back up on him the next day!! Now, it is safe to say that any one of us and the members of Jesus’ audience would have no problem doing these things for one of our family members and/or friends, so that is encouraging. However, Jesus is telling us that we are called to do these things for those that are completely offensive to us. I could make a list of the kinds of people that might be “Samaritan” status in our modern world, however, I am afraid that might just accentuate more prejudice, but for our own meditation on this particular gospel, I think we need to think about the most offensive character that we can, and imagine ourselves tending to their wounds, carrying them in our arms to safety, and paying out of our own pockets for their extended care. It makes this gospel so much more powerful and so much more difficult to embrace.

So, Smarty Pants, to answer your question, Jesus asks another, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” Another reference to “how do you read this?” because Jesus knows that the answer is crystal clear. Smarty Pants probably hung his head in shame saying, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Right answer again, and Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.” This story is a nut shell of the Cursillo tripod of Piety, Study, and Action. Piety comes from our personal relationship with God loving him with our whole heart, mind, and strength. From this personal relationship, we are prompted to learn more and to study His word. Once we know the Word, we MUST walk it out into the world and they will know that we belong to God because of our actions. Piety stirs our heart, study stirs our mind, and action stirs our will. All three are must be engaged in order to thrive in our spiritual lives. Remember the right answer is always, “The one who treated him with mercy.”

Reading 1 Jon 1:1–2:1-2, 11

This is the word of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai:

“Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it;
their wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD.
He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish,
paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish,
away from the LORD.

The LORD, however, hurled a violent wind upon the sea,
and in the furious tempest that arose
the ship was on the point of breaking up.
Then the mariners became frightened and each one cried to his god.
To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship,
and lay there fast asleep.
The captain came to him and said, “What are you doing asleep?
Rise up, call upon your God!
Perhaps God will be mindful of us so that we may not perish.”

Then they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots
to find out on whose account we have met with this misfortune.”
So they cast lots, and thus singled out Jonah.
“Tell us,” they said, “what is your business?
Where do you come from?
What is your country, and to what people do you belong?”
Jonah answered them, “I am a Hebrew,
I worship the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land.”

Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him,
“How could you do such a thing!–
They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD,
because he had told them.–
They asked, “What shall we do with you,
that the sea may quiet down for us?”
For the sea was growing more and more turbulent.
Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,
that it may quiet down for you;
since I know it is because of me
that this violent storm has come upon you.”

Still the men rowed hard to regain the land, but they could not,
for the sea grew ever more turbulent.
Then they cried to the LORD: “We beseech you, O LORD,
let us not perish for taking this man’s life;
do not charge us with shedding innocent blood,
for you, LORD, have done as you saw fit.”
Then they took Jonah and threw him into the sea,
and the sea’s raging abated.
Struck with great fear of the LORD,
the men offered sacrifice and made vows to him.

But the LORD sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah;
and Jonah remained in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed
to the LORD, his God.
Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore.

Responsorial Psalm Jonah 2:3, 4, 5, 8

R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Out of my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me;
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows
passed over me.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Then I said, “I am banished from your sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple.”
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.

Alleluia Jn 13:34

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 10:25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied,
“A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.’
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”