Tuesday, September 28, 2021

 Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 (Zechariah 8:21-23; Luke 9:51-56)

 Today’s gospel makes for an interesting contrast with one which will be read next week.  Here Samaritans discriminate against Jesus and his followers as they head toward Jerusalem.  They want nothing to do with Jewish pilgrims. Next Monday the parable of the Good Samaritan will be read at Mass.  In it the Samaritan goes out of his way to help an accosted Jew returning from Jerusalem.

 There are good and bad people everywhere.  Perhaps some nations are characteristically helpful to strangers, but no nation has all the helpful people in the world.  Jesus is not disturbed by the rejection of the Samaritan town.  He knows that there are good Samaritans.  But he is upset by the reaction of his disciples.  They should know by now that following Jesus will incur rejection at times and even persecution. They should also know that he expects them to be tolerant of others’ blindness and to respond to hostility with a prayer for conversion.

 As Christians, we are called to bring about reconciliation in a fractured world.  People’s ideas differ more widely than many thought ten years ago.  We do well to respect everyone and to dialogue to effect mutual understanding.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

(Job 3:1-3.11-17.20-23; Luke 9:51-6)

Lest the parable of the “Good Samaritan” make us think that Samaritans incarnate virtue, today’s gospel notes Samaritan intolerance. For practical purposes Jesus is denied hospitality in a Samaritan village simply because he is a Jew. We may conclude that prejudice is a human defect that is seen when a majority people feels threatened by a minority. It seems that this phenomenon is showing itself among Americans today with the influx of Latin immigrants.

Where the disciples are ready to respond quite aggressively to Samaritan hostility, Jesus shows restraint. As a matter of fact, he shows disfavor with the disciples for their impulsiveness and not with the Samaritans for their lack of neighborliness.

At one point in this same Gospel According to Luke, Jesus says that he did not come to bring peace. But that is a very relative statement. He is not here to abet the peace of self-satisfaction and indifference. Rather, he means to assist his followers conquer their prejudices and agressiveness, even when victory means setting them apart from family and friends. The end result, however, is a purer love for everyone – friend, foe, and especially God.