Our readings this Sunday, when taken together and digested a bit, paint a very clear picture for us, of some of the key points of what we need to understand about what is important in the way we follow our Lord. One of the things that I think many of us who ponder the will of our Lord don’t always fully appreciate, is the elegant simplicity of what is core to His message to each one of us. There is nothing complicated about it, and to be honest, it truly is actually summed up quite well in the two commandments that He acknowledged as the greatest, and foundational for all the rest – Love the Lord your God and love one another as yourselves. It really is true that if we accomplish this, we will be well on our way to being united with Him in purpose and deed.
In our first reading, Moses enjoins on the people the necessity of keeping the Lords commands and paints a rather florid description of how these are neither elusive, nor far from us. In point of fact, he tells the people that they are in plain sight if they will merely look to the laws that God had given them. The message, I think, is that we do not need to complicate things and search high and low if we will simply take to heart that which has already been given us in sacred scripture. The instructions are there, we simply need to pay attention and embrace what He has given us in his word, something that I think we often do when we are in our more contemplative moments.
The difficulty, I think, arises not so much in the understanding of what is expected of us, but rather in the execution. I doubt this is a surprise to most of us because it’s easy to hear what is expected of us, and nod our heads in agreement, and in all likelihood truly mean that acknowledgement at the time. Where things seem to get a bit stickier, is when we confront all of the other expectations and obligations that are part of our lives and find ourselves feeling like we have a valid rationale to “de-prioritize” what is expected of us by our Lord in light of all the competing priorities we encounter. In the narrative about the good Samaritan, this fellow was riding along minding his own business, and in all likelihood with an important errand to accomplish (just like us), when out of the blue he encounters someone in need, dire need, of assistance. This person had already been passed by, by others who were also busily engaged – a priest and a Levite, who were the movers and shakers of the day back then, more or less the equivalent of lawyers and politicians of today in terms of upward mobility, both of whom passed him by in favor of carrying on with their seemingly more important tasks. What they failed to realize, was their true task, the one that was given by God as being far more important than any professional or secular concerns. They let the world, and its priorities, take precedence. The Samaritan on the other hand, who would have been considered unworthy of even being acknowledged by the priest or the Levite, saw something very different. He was looking not with vision clouded by worldliness, but instead very humbly with eyes of love and compassion that gave him true clarity into what God would have him do. There was no hesitation, he left the comfort of his mount (got out of the air-conditioned car in today’s parlance) and went over and picked up the man who had been beaten and cared for him by binding up his wounds with his own hands, and after that found him a place of shelter and paid for his stay there to allow him further time to get well. He did all these things not because of trying to impress anyone watching – it frankly wouldn’t have mattered even if they were watching, because as a Samaritan there was literally nothing, he could ever have done to win them over or gain their respect or approval. No, he did this more or less in secret, and sought only to follow what he knew was right in the sight of God. This is the key, to keep ourselves humble enough each day to keep our vision clear and be able to see through those same eyes of love and compassion what needs to be done. It need not be anything as dramatic as binding up the wounds of someone who has been beaten up, it could well be as simple as seeing someone whose tire has gone flat and lending a hand, or who is struggling to move their grocery cart through a crowded parking lot on a hot day and assisting a bit. When we take the time to step outside our own little world of seemingly important priorities and humble ourselves a bit as we then step toward a situation that is one of need by one of Gods other creations in His image, we show love for them, and through them for the one in who made each of us. Not so hard after all, and not a thing mysterious or remote about it.
The Deacons Bench 