INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - is, “Justify Oneself.”
I don’t know if I ever noticed before - the word “justify”
in today’s gospel. [Cf. Luke 10:25-37]
I suspect the parable of the Good Samaritan is so loud, so clear, so
challenging, that one would miss the comment - that the scholar of the law
wished to justify himself.
I noticed it last night as I read out loud today’s
readings. Then I began thinking about it. It hit me as a theme for a homily - probably
because I wanted to get my mind onto it and into it.
TODAY’S FIRST
READING
Today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy was saying quiet clearly: KISS. When giving a
tall - remember the KISS principle: Keep
It Simple Stupid.
Moses was saying that God’s commandments and statues and laws
are not from another planet. You don’t have to cross the seas to find them.
They are already very near to you - already in your mouth and in your heart and
you just have to carry them out. [Cf. Deuteronomy 30: 10-14]
So I asked myself: is the command to justify oneself simple,
clear and close enough for everyone - that everyone would get that message?
JUSTIFYING ONESELF
First - I looked up some stuff on the meaning of the word
“justify” - in the English text - and “dikaioun”
- in the Greek text.
For starters, it’s connected with the big theological
theme of justification,
That was the big theme Jesus was constantly hearing from the Pharisees. “You’re
wrong. We’re right.”
They saw how he was doing life. They knew how they were
doing life. They heard what he was saying. They knew what they were thinking.
We’re different here. Comparisons and
contrasts are powerful cats scratching away in the cage called our mind.
“Uh oh! Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Uh oh! Crucify him.
Kill him. He’s different.”
What justifies us - was the big theme in the Protestant
Reformation. Who or what saves us? This
is heaven or hell stuff. It’s bottom line stuff. When I die, was I right or was
I wrong? Will I be saved or lost - forever?
That’s a heavy duty question. Is it too hot to handle on
a hot summer day?
Am I right or am I wrong, in taking all this out of that
one comment in today’s gospel - or should I simply stress being a Good
Samaritan?
Right or wrong? It’s the big theme in many an
argument. I’m right. You’re wrong.
It goes to the very bottom of who we are - how we see -
what we have figured out about the meaning of life so far - from our experiences
- and from what we’ve learned. Should we leave the butter in or out of the
refrigerator? Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Toilet paper? Which way?
Can we say the following: there are two kinds of people -
those who put law first and those who put the other first. Whom am I concerned about: the person in my
shoes - my skin - my mind - being right all the time - or should I be
concentrating on the person in the other person’s shoes?
One leads to speaking - arguing; the other leads to
listening - to trying to figure out where the other person is coming from.
One leads to stopping at our nose and not noticing
someone right next to us who might be hurting - like a member of our own family
- or someone in our car pool - or sitting next to us at the pool - or the
stranger on the street.
The other challenges us to be Good Samaritans.
Monologue or dialogue?
BALLPOINT PEN -
JUSTIFY YOURSELF
We need a ballpoint pen. We tried three - one in a coffee
cup on a kitchen counter, one in a top desk drawer - and one in a suit jacket
in a closet - and all three have come up empty. Conspiracy….
Each seems like they have a brake in them - as in a car with its brake on. No
ink is coming out. Ugh and we want to write something out - but no ballpoint
pen is working.
So that afternoon we’re standing there in CVS or Office
Depot and wondering which ballpoint pen to buy?
Without being conscious about it, we’re deciding which
pen will justify itself. Which pen will deliver? We know we’ve had good luck with a Bic pen in
the past, so we buy a package of them. Two
dollars and 19 cents. They are reliable. We can lose them. When someone borrows
one from us and doesn’t return it, we won’t
go bankrupt or berserk. Whatever. But they are a good buy. Right or wrong?
Just for kicks we look up on Google - “Best ballpoint
pen?” and we find out Bic can give us up to 2 miles of writing or 78,000 words.
Is that right? Who
did the research?
Still good move. Our Bic Pen buy justifies itself by good
service - a good life. Is the proof in the pudding? Is the proof in the
reliability - in the service - in the black ink - in the working?
We pause. Does God ever wonder about what God is getting
out of us?
Does a spouse ever wonder what he or she is getting out
of their life choice - from the one they married? Hey they met in a CVS that one day when he asked her, “Hey do
you know where the ballpoint pens are?”
Does a boss - a supervisor - ever wonder about his or her workers?
Justify yourself!
Are you the right person for the job - or are you the
wrong person?
Uh oh! Big question - this question of
justifying ourselves.
BACK TO THE
PARABLE
The scholar in the gospel is asking Jesus that kind of
question.
He asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
That’s the bottom line question - like at the doctor’s
office - when life hands us a ball point pen and says, “Sign your name right here?”
Am I justifying myself - or am I just taking up space?
It’s my life. What am I doing with it?
Jesus asks the guy who came up to him, “Well what’s
written in the law?”
Written - the word! There’s a ballpoint pen connection - but of
course Moses didn’t use a Bic Pen. Yet it would make a good TV ad, wouldn’t it?
What’s written down? What’s right? What’s wrong?
The scholar replies what’s in the law: “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?”
Jesus says, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you
will live.”
He must have felt an inner “Uh oh” - all of a sudden because
he wished to justify himself.
It’s a blessing to the rest of us - that he asked that question.
Feeling the need to justify himself, he got out of
himself for a moment and asked, “And who is my neighbor?”
And Jesus gave us the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
And Luke wrote it down - and it’s down there on paper -
for us to look at for life.
CONCLUSION
There it is the meaning of life.
There it is the secret of life.
Others - God and others - to notice them, to love them,
to stop to be with them - just like we hope others would do for us - is that
the meaning of life?
Down deep, isn’t it neat, when we’re following another
heading for a door - and suddenly at the door, they stop - open it up - and let
us in ahead of them.
Isn’t that a great simple wonderful moment of life?
Every day we meet people who are stuck. Every day we meet people who have run out of
ink. Every day we meet people who are beaten up.
Jesus said everyday people bypass everyday people who
need our love - our attention - our time.
Many people think it’s all right to pass people by who could use our love.
They justify in their mind - they have something more
important to do - like the priest and the Levite in today’s gospel - who slide
right by the man who was beaten, stripped, robbed on the road from Jerusalem to
Jericho.
And Jesus - the story teller - tells us how to live a
storied life. Jesus goes to the extreme and says the stranger - the Samaritan -
stopped - helped - gave the wounded his medical care - lifted him onto his
animal - and brought the wounded man to an Inn and cared for him
If Jesus was telling that story today - the Samaritan
would be the outsider, the Muslim - the street person - who stopped to help.
Want to feel right about life? - everyday - want to
justify ourselves? - the call is to stop and help our brother and sister in
need till we run out of ink - till we run out of think.
