Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Opposite Sides

Who is my neighbor? Jesus urges us to treat everyone as our neighbor, whether we know them or not. In Colossians, we hear that all are connected to one another and to creation itself through Christ, in whom “all things hold together.” If I imagine myself on that road to Jericho, I have to ask myself, “What would keep me from the helping the person who had been attacked? What would have motivated me to help?” That’s a serious, long examination of conscience for me.

After reading, studying and discussing Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti:  On Fraternity and Social Friendship, I have been focused on the person on the side of the road. Why is this person there? I know that I can see the person and I can see the suffering. But the “why” asks me to examine all the conditions, the values, the “omissions to take care of situations”, and the indifference that put him there.

Who are these “robbers”? Who are the people who are being robbed? Why have they been robbed? What have they been robbed of?

I think of the horrific deaths in Uvalde, the migrants in the 18 wheeler, the July 4^th parade attendants—how can we continue to just walk on by? How can we succumb to just getting used to it—witnessing it so often that we are de-sensitized to the horrific suffering? Just ask the medical examiners, the doctors, the witnesses what they see and how that stays with them.

Jesus describes the actions of the priest and the Levite—“he passed by on the opposite side.” What is this “opposite side”? There are lots of “opposite sides” going on right now! What side do I choose?

In his encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis says that “each day we have to decide whether to be Good Samaritans or indifferent bystanders.” Should we do the former in the abstract? Do it sometimes? Or every time we confront a stranger in need.

1. 69. … And if we extend our gaze to the history of our own lives and that of the entire world, all of us are or have been like each of the characters in the parable. All of us have in ourselves something of the wounded person, something of the robber, something of the passers-by, and something of the Good Samaritan.
   70. It is remarkable how the various characters in the story change, once confronted by the painful sight of the poor man on the roadside. The distinctions between Judean and Samaritan, priest and merchant, fade into insignificance. Now there are only two kinds of people: those who care for someone who is hurting and those who pass by; those who bend down to help and those who look the other way and hurry off. Here, all our distinctions, labels and masks fall away: it is the moment of truth …? Will we bend down and help another to get up? This is today’s challenge, and we should not be afraid to face it. In moments of crisis, decisions become urgent.

Fratelli Tutti
Encyclical Letter, On Fraternity and Social Friendship
Pope Francis, 2020