The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (2025)
A few years ago, I came across a news story about a religious sister serving in a clinic in Syria. True to her calling, she was serving all those who needed care, including sick and wounded Muslim soldiers. When asked why she, a Christian, would be willing to care for Muslims—including those who might have been perpetrating violence against the Christian community—she simply responded by saying, “We don’t do this because of who they are. We do this because of who we are.”
As I have been thinking of the Parable of the “Good Samaritan” over these past few days, I’ve found myself coming back to that response: we do this because of who we are. It’s a tough lesson, certainly. And so, it seems that there is a question at the heart of this Gospel passage: Who are you?
“The Good Samaritan” by Vincent Van Gogh
In considering this text, we don’t know what was in the mind and heart of the scholar who approached Jesus that day. Certainly he knew what his religious duties were and he could recite the law. His answer to Jesus is perfect. But their conversation didn’t end with his answer. Rather, because the man wanted to justify himself, he asks Jesus a pointed question: “Who is my neighbor?”
And here, rather than simply answer the question, Jesus tells a story designed to help the scholar move beyond all the rules he has in his head… he tells a story that invites the scholar to listen with his heart.
True to form, however, the story Jesus tells isn’t as straightforward as it might seem at first. Like all of Jesus’ parables, there is a twist in the plot… and it’s this: the “hero” of the story wasn’t a faithful Jew like the scholar. In fact, the hero is Samaritan, which means that he was a man who have been reviled by faithful Jews. And yet, unlike the “righteous” priest and Levite who leave the robbers’ victim bleeding and broken by the side of the road, the Samaritan not only takes the man to safety, but he provides for his care out of his own resources. The Samaritan is living out the way of God that is elaborated in Moses’ words from the First Reading: “For this command that I enjoy on you today is not too mysterious or remote for you… it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.” In his heart—just like those who passed by—the Samaritan knew what was being asked of him and he responded from his heart.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan challenges our ability to make excuses for why we may refuse to serve or support those whom we might be willing to recognize as a “neighbor,” but who, for whatever reason, we keep at a distance because we only see a “them,” someone different from us—an outsider. And as uncomfortable as it might make us, this parable is a powerful and vivid reminder that this is never an option for Christians. Ultimately, our Christian faith—and each of us as individual Christians—should be known for that dynamic love for God and neighbor outlined in this Sunday’s Gospel. This is why the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen could state:
“If God is compassionate, then certainly those who love God should be compassionate as well. The God whom Jesus announced and in whose name he acts is the God of compassion, the God who offers himself as example and model for all human behavior.”
This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us that our commitment to live as disciples of Jesus—who gave to those in need without holding anything back—asks that we imitate his selfless service. And, in a particular way, the Parable of the Good Samaritan also reminds that the call to love isn’t impossible or something beyond us. We need only look at the lives of the saints—and of Jesus himself—to see this kind of unbounded love at work. And so, we have to ask ourselves, where our hesitation to be the loving, self-giving people that that Jesus calls us to be comes from. What is preventing us from being the people of justice that the Gospel calls us to be?
In the end, our openness to living this radical kind of love has the power to reshape our understanding of who we understand our neighbor to be by removing those attitudes and prejudices, fears and uncertainties that can limit our own mercy and compassion.
In the end, it is love that allows to be who we are meant to be.
O God, who show the light of your truth
to those who go astray,
so that they may return to the right path,
give all who for the faith they profess
are accounted Christians
the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ
and to strive after all that does it honor.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily prepared for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, in Milwaukee, WI
