Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, C July 14, 2019
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Does anyone not know this story? Even those outside the Church are familiar with it. It resonates with the common experience of human beings throughout history: people suffer while others just pass by. The Levite and the Priest might have had urgent business or an excuse involving ritual purity, but that doesn’t really mean much to the guy bleeding on the side of the road.
Another reason this parable is popular is that it’s easy to see how this summarizes Christ’s teaching and how easy it is to preach about. There are no shortage of homilies and reflections on this parable that tell people to be like the Samaritan. Add my name to the list of priests who tell his people to be like the Samaritan.
But, that is not the message I want you to hear today. Do you need yet another reminder to be generous, to be compassionate to your neighbor? Probably. Still, perhaps you’re tired of hearing that command. Perhaps you are sensing a little discouragement or anxiety that, after so many years of trying, you’ve made no progress. Perhaps repeating the same exhortation every week will leave you worse off, not better. So, I think you need to consider something else this time. I think you need to consider what this means when you are the victim, though probably not in the way you first imagine.
Yes, when people actually rob you and beat you, it is nice to know there are people out there like the Samaritan, like Christ who will help you. But how many of us end up literally on the side of the road bleeding? So, let’s take this to the spiritual level, to a place where every single one of us has been, where we each still are. You are the robber’s victim and so am I.
At this level, the robbers are not greedy human beings, not flesh and blood, but the principalities and the powers – the fallen angels in service to Satan. They beat you with temptation, they rob you of peace and joy. Every sin you commit is another wound – and who doesn’t sin? You are the one half-dead on the side of the road of life. You are the one who is perhaps disappointed in the Levites and priests of today who have at one time or another failed to care for you as a victim. That is inevitable. I as a priest will fail you, though I strive not to. Other priests will fail you more or less, but none of us is sufficiently like the Samaritan of this parable, who is of course Jesus Christ himself.
Yet, Jesus Christ works through the priest. The sacraments work even when the priest is a sinful coward. And when the priest is supremely holy and effective, it is still Christ working through him and not his own power that succeeds. So, what the parable is saying to everyone, besides reminding you to be neighborly, is that Christ is and always will be neighborly to you.
Jesus is moved with compassion at your wounds, self-inflicted though they are. He approaches to pour oil and wine upon them. These are symbols of grace. Grace is more valuable than the entire physical universe and he pours it out on your wounds. Especially in the sacrament of confession, your greatest evil becomes the place where God gives great gifts – the grace of forgiveness and even of growing in holiness.
But perhaps, like me, you fall into the same sins over and over again. Perhaps some of those sins are quite serious and you fear that Jesus will someday stop pouring oil and wine upon the same old wounds… that despite all the sacraments and prayers you will end up outside heaven after all because you were too weak… that you were trapped by sin and so unable to stay away from the robbers.
If that is you, if that despair or discouragement has ever crossed your mind, then note well what happens in the parable. Even after dressing the wounds of the victim, the Samaritan lifts him up on “his own animal.” Christ carries us when he carries the cross on his human shoulder. Then, he takes him to the inn, cares for him, and pays the innkeeper to keep caring for him. He not only pays the price of oil and wine already poured out but lays down silver coins to pay for the future.
Then, then we get the greatest encouragement of all. “If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.” First, he gives no limit to the cost. Second, he will come back. No matter how many times you sin and are wounded, the innkeeper will continue to provide care if you come to him. The innkeeper isn’t exactly a hero in this story. He might be no better than the priest and Levite, he may well have passed the victim if he had gone that same way. But, the Samaritan is paying him, so he will do what is necessary.
See in this innkeeper a sign of God’s ability to work through imperfect ministers of the Church. Whenever a priest fails to be like the Samaritan, then treat him like the innkeeper – simply demand that he give you the care already paid for by the Samaritan. By that I mean keep trusting in the sacraments. Scandalous as it is to say this, the people baptized and absolved by ex-Cardinal McCarrick are still baptized and forgiven. That’s because greatest care the Church provides is already paid for by Christ as the Samaritan pays innkeeper to care for the victim.
No cost is too high. There is no limit to the sins we can forgive, so long as you sincerely ask for forgiveness. “Turn to the Lord and you will live.” If you’ve battled the same serious sin for 50 years or more, come see me. Let’s work to get you free from it. But, even if we should fail know that the Samaritan, that Christ, has promised to pay on his return. I am confident that many a soul in heaven got there after battling the same sin until the very day of their death. They never stopped repenting even though they never did kick the habit. But on the day they died, on the day the Samaritan returned – because they were still in the Inn of the Church – the price was paid and they were forever set free.
Strive to be free now. Rejoice at the oil and wine poured upon your wounds now. Never presume on God’s mercy – you do have to really keep trying – but never think his mercy it will run out either. Persevere, stay in the Church, keep going to confession, and know that when Jesus Christ the Good Samaritan returns, he will repay… he has already paid.