Jesus might have told this parable:
“A terrible sickness struck a village. The people were terrified of
getting sick and wanted to know what to do”.
The doctor asked the people to wear face masks to protect one
another. We will! They all said. Some did for a while, but they found
the masks uncomfortable, and made it difficult to breathe, so they soon
stopped wearing them.
The Rabbi asked the people to share their food with the poor and
sick. We will! They all promised. But many became more and more
concerned for their own needs and that of their families, so they kept
their barns and larders full – and locked.
The mayor asked the merchants to close their shops and innkeepers
to close their taverns so people would not gather and spread the sickness.
We will! They all agreed. They did so for a few days, but their profits
dropped, and they could not pay their help, so slowly, one by one, they
quietly re-opened. Soon, the sickness took the lives of many in the poor village.
But then there were the good folk who understood that wearing
face masks protected others from the sickness, who kept their distance
from one another so the sickness would not spread, (even though they
missed one another terribly), who readily shared what they had with
those who had little. Oh, it was very hard, and there were many days
when they wanted to give up. But they persevered.
Because of them, many people did not get sick and survived.
Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because
they hear”, Jesus would have said.
The parable of the sower challenges us to check the “thinness” of
the soil in our hearts that results in our faith withering in the noonday
heat; the “rockiness” of self-centeredness and avarice that prevents
God’s “seed” of generosity and peace from taking root in us; the
“thorns” of bigotry and self-righteousness that “choke” the possibility of
providing for the poor, healing the broken, lifting up the fallen. Our own response to the coronavirus is a good measure of the “richness” of our faith and its potential for the “seed” of God’s Word to take root and
realize in our lives the harvest of justice and compassion that is the
Kingdom of God.
Archive for the ‘15th Sunday’ Category
A New Parable 7-12-2020
Sunday, July 12th, 2020The Good Samaritan 7-14-2019
Sunday, July 14th, 2019The Levite
As he turned to the form on the road, he immediately noticed that there
was a Samaritan not far behind him. “I know what’s going on”, he
thought, “because it happened to friends of mine on this very same
road.” The body is a plant. A perfectly healthy man who is to draw me
to the side of the road and attack me. Then with the help of the
Samaritan, they will rob me, strip me, and leave me half dead. “Praise
the Holy name for the glance over my shoulder and the wisdom that
Yahweh gave me for protection! This day, life has been spared in
Israel.” He hurried quickly along the road and even as he continued he
noticed the Samaritan stop to speak with his accomplice lying at the side of
the road:
The Samaritan
“Oh, poor man. What in the world has happened to him? Have people just
passed him by all day? There are lots of people who travel this path, and no
one has stopped to help him. I’d better stop to see what I can do for him.
What a mess he is in: bleeding, bruises, black eyes, and he has been robbed!
I’d better do something with him, I just can’t leave him here. I know what it
is like to be neglected, to be left for dead, that is how people treat me so
much of the time. I can see why people neglect me, I am a Samaritan, but
why have they neglected this poor man. What is happening to people? I have
really felt that neglect, and I know how terrible it is to be left for dead. I am
not going to let that happen to him. I will clean and dress his wounds, put him
on my donkey and take him to the Inn down the road. I am not a rich man,
but I have a little money. That should take care of him for a day or so. I can’t
believe that people just pass him over. Maybe they should be in the position
of desertion and aloneness once in a while, so they really know that it means
to be down and out.” People are just too concerned about what others are
going to think if they do something out of the ordinary.”
The Unfortunate Victim
“What’s happening to me?” I was walking along, minding my own business
and now this: abandoned, rejected, left to die. Why don’t these people help
me? Oh! They’re coming over (priest & Levite)… Now they’re leaving!
They were only curious, not really interested or concerned. Death would be
better than just lying here in pain, watching people pass me by. Wait, who is
this guy (Samaritan). Is he going to be like the others and treat me like I don’t
exist? Wait, he is bending over! He must be up to something. I don’t trust
him! He is helping me. Oh, how different life looks.”
