22nd Sunday after Pentecost

(Luke 10:25-37)

In the Gospel reading for today, our Lord is approached by a certain lawyer who attempts to test Him by asking: ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’

Our Lord Jesus Christ tosses this question back to him, asking: ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’

The lawyer then summarizes the teachings of the Old Testament, answering: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Christ affirms the wisdom of his response, saying: ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you shall live.’

But the lawyer, the Gospel tells us, wished to justify himself, and therefore said to Jesus: ‘And who is my neighbor?’

In response to the question: ‘Who is my neighbor?’, our Lord tells the tale of the Good Samaritan. A certain man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and had been robbed and beaten and left for dead. A priest came by and, when he saw the beaten man, he passed by on the other side of the road. Likewise, when a Levite came by, he too passed by on the other side of the road. But then along came a Samaritan – one of the lowest classes of people in society – and, when he saw the beaten man, he had compassion and helped him: bandaging his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and setting him up in an inn where he could recover and be made well.

The priest, who spent his time in the temple in prayer; and the Levite, who spent his time studying the Jewish Scriptures… neither of these two could be bothered to help the wounded man. It was the despised Samaritan who proved to be a neighbor, who showed mercy on the man who had fallen among thieves.

Christ provides a clear message here, and it is a consistent theme of His, that we must not fall into spiritual self-satisfaction… thinking like the priest and the Levite that their religiosity will save them. It is a wonderful thing that we find ourselves within the grace-filled enclosure of the Orthodox faith, but if this leads to our spiritual self-satisfaction and our spiritual pride, then we had better beware. God grant that we might reflect the simple and compassionate heart of the Samaritan, who goes out of his way to help a brother in need.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ… if our attention to our Orthodox faith is not penetrating our heart and elevating our soul to compassion, then we are missing the mark. The Apostle Paul writes: ‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.’

The Christian life is a call to action! It is a call toward self-sacrificial love… of seeing Christ before us in whatever situation we may find ourselves in and of serving Him with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength.

This is the great paradox of the Gospel message… it is in denying ourselves that we are blessed, it is in giving that we receive, it is in dying that we live. It is precisely through this outward, ‘other-focused’ life of loving God and our neighbor that we begin to change for the better – this transformation of self is not our primary focus but is a consequence of a simple and sincere focus on loving God and others. If our focus and objective is self-centered, we will never make true progress in the spiritual life. Salvation must never devolve into a selfish pursuit. Salvation is the process of loving God and of being loved and transformed by God in return.

By God’s grace, let us live generously – with eyes open for the needy who are right in front of us – perhaps within our very own family. There is so much need for love in this world right now. God calls us to be bearers of His love. It is the simplest thing in the world, and it is the most challenging thing in the world. But with God’s help and His grace, all things are possible. And for this, we should give thanks to God!

This week we celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Let us focus on cultivating a heart of gratitude to God. So much good comes from a foundation of gratitude… it brings forth humility, recognition of our blessings and appreciation for them, and all this stimulates our love for God.

May God grant us that generous and grateful spirit to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and let us recognize and love our neighbor as our self.