Get Off Your Donkey!

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C
Dt 30:10-14
Col 1:15-20
Lk 10:25-37

There were two men, Harry and Charlie, who were great friends and avid golfers. Every Tuesday for twenty years they had a regular tee time at a local course, and they rarely missed it. One morning, just as they were finishing the 4th hole, Charlie grabbed his chest and fell down dead of a massive heart attack. When Harry arrived home he told his wife about the harrowing ordeal. "Oh, that must have been terrible," she said. “Yes, it was one of the hardest things I’ve had to endure in my entire life, he said. “All day long it was, hit the ball, drag Charlie, hit the ball, drag Charlie.”

I think many times in our lives it’s “Hit the ball, drag Jesus. Hit the ball, drag Jesus.” We say we love him with our whole hearts, but sometimes our hearts are more into our jobs or our entertainments. And so we drag Jesus. We say we love him with our whole being, but sometimes our being is more centered on ourselves. And so we drag Jesus. We say we love him with all our strength, but usually we rely more on our own abilities than on trusting completely in God. And so we drag Jesus. We say we love him with all our mind, but we’ve got so much to think about that we forget about God sometimes. And so we drag Jesus.

You know, it’s hard work to drag Jesus. It’s hard work to rationalize inaction. We really have to think about it. Like the lawyer in today’s gospel we try to justify ourselves when confronted with moral truth. The man was a lawyer, and it was a lawyer’s job to study stuff. He knew in his head what he needed to do, and he knew all the right things to say, but he was looking for a rationalization for not doing it. I know what it says in the book, but…There’s always a but in there somewhere.

We know what to do but we fight it. As Moses said, it is very near to us, already in our mouths and in our hearts; we have only to carry it out. We talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. We look for ways to avoid doing what we know is right because it’s inconvenient or hard for us to do.

When’s the last time you had to rationalize doing something good?

The natural thing to do is to act with compassion, because that’s how God made us. Like him. Jesus didn’t have to think about it when he healed someone. He just did it. Do you think the priest or the Levite would have hesitated to help if the victim had been one of their own children? If we spent as much time acting with compassion as we do in trying to figure ways to avoid it, how much easier our lives would be. What a waste of energy.

This parable is not a warm and fuzzy, lovey dovey one. It’s all about action. The priest was of the ruling class, a politician, and he knew that if word got out that he had helped a foreigner he would have big political problems. He might even lose his position and status. So he rationalized that his politics were more important than mercy - and he moved on. The Levite was one who served in the temple, and if he touched the Samaritan it would make him impure. He would have to go through an elaborate cleansing ritual before he could serve in the temple again, so he rationalized that his religion was more important than mercy - and he moved on. The Samaritan was the only one who got off his…donkey and did something about it. Without thinking of the consequences. He did what came naturally and both he and the victim were saved.

Jesus didn’t say “the neighbor to the man was the one who studied the Talmud more or who prayed for the victim”. He said the neighbor was the one who actually did something about his situation. Studying and praying are what we do to lay the foundation for our action. Jesus spent a lot of time praying and studying and preparing for his ministry, but he acted upon that preparation. You may be the most pius, prayerful person in the world, but if you don’t act on it with compassion you’re a fraud.

“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.”

Why does God want us to love him like this? Because that’s the way he loves us. Switch it around a bit: The Lord, your God loves you, his creature, with all his heart, with all his being, with all his strength and with all his mind, and all he asks in return is that you treat other people in the same way.

How do we know that God loves like this? Because Jesus loves like this. We have proof of his love in the Gospels. Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He loved everyone with his whole heart, being, strength and mind, and he loved his neighbor more than he loved himself. He loved us so much that he died for us. That’s how we know.

Moses tells the people today that it’s not all that complicated. The law of love we are to live by isn’t something that’s written in the stars or is in need of someone to come and explain it to us. The lawyer knew the answer to his question before he asked it, just as we all know deep down how we are supposed to act and feel towards God and our neighbor. If we are created in the image of God we have that knowledge put in our consciences at our conception. All we do with our religion is to deepen our understanding of it and carry it out in our lives.

And it is a simple thing to do. If we have our focus on God, we don’t have to worry about having our focus on our neighbor. If we love our neighbor we don’t have to worry about loving God. They’re both the same thing. You can’t love God and not love your neighbor and you can’t love your neighbor without loving God. Love is one, just as God is one. Anytime we love we are in God and God is in us.

But we’ve got to get off our donkeys and do something with it.