16th Sunday Year C - Homily 1

Homily 1 - 2007

Jesus did not tell us to love "everyone". Too often "everyone" means no one. He said to love our neighbour. And when asked: Who do you mean? Who is my neighbour? He didn’t answer directly, but told the well-known story of the Good Samaritan (that we heard last week). The point of the story he left to us to work out, but among other things, it seemed to say: No one is ruled out. Your neighbour is the one in need who happens to cross your path.

Beyond that, it’s up to ourselves, but some people qualifying as neighbours because they cross our paths constantly, are family members, ones we engage with in our work places and in our leisure activities; and, since we belong to a local community, a national community, and a global community, they are the people in need in our local, national and global communities.

Of course, our time, our resources, our abilities and our energies are all limited – so our practical responses will need to be discerned and prioritised. But Jesus’ story seemed to say: No one is ruled out a priori, and Our responses will be factors of their needs and our capacity.

In Luke’s Gospel, the story of the Good Samaritan (which we heard last week) is followed immediately by today’s story, and that is probably not by accident. Perhaps it moves us beyond Who do I reach out to? How do I respond in practice? to address the question of: In what spirit do I respond?

Martha reached out very practically to Jesus who landed on her doorstep – a great good Samaritan: she welcomed him, and she set about feeding him. But then, perhaps, her focus changed: she got absorbed in her need and got resentful of her sister, and she tried to draw Jesus, her guest, into her argument with her sister. That was, to say the least, a failure in courtesy and a breach of hospitality. Mary, on the other hand, wasn’t crash-hot on practical charity, but her attention helped Jesus, her guest, to feel welcome.

Of course, it need not have become an either/or situation: Martha could have kept doing what she was doing and yet remained warmly focussed on her guest. Mary could have kept warmly focussed on Jesus, and still have given Martha a hand.

But, perhaps, the point of the story is: When I help someone in need, whom am I focussing on? on them? or, on me? Am I doing it to meet my need, or to meet the other’s need? Do I reach out because it makes me feel good, or less guilty? because God will be pleased with me? because I try to see Jesus in the person in need? or

Do I reach out to others as the persons they are, simply because they are persons and they have a need - but not just a need - also an inviolable dignity, simply as the persons they are, and that, more than anything else, needs to be taken seriously, and responded to warmly?