Monday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100311.cfm

Butterflies are free

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"


Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers victim?"
He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."


In today's Gospel story, Jesus' interlocutor is gracious enough to admit Jesus is right. Although he had tried to justify himself by persistent questioning, when the chips were down he admitted Jesus had won:
My neighbor is anyone in need, regardless of his race, religion or nation. 


Throughout the New Testament charity is described as giving to strangers. Supporting your own family doesn't count. 
Even before the Gospels were written Saint Paul urged  his disciples in Greece and Rome to send money to Jerusalem. The holy city was struck by famine and Christians needed the support of strangers. Remember that the Jerusalem Christians had been born Jewish and Paul's disciples were mostly gentile. So the needy had to put away their pride when alms arrived from abroad. Whatever these former Jews had believed about gentiles, they had to be grateful to them. And they had to recognize, if they had not seen it yet, how differently Christians act toward strangers. 


The bonds of kinship that Paul encouraged crossed the lines between gentiles and Jews; he saw that we are all one in Christ. Jesus' parable would go even beyond that, teaching that our common humanity makes us "neighbors." 


Today, many Christians and Catholics think our orthodoxy should persuade people to join us. They insist we have the right teaching! But in our multicultural world, being right persuades almost no one. They want to see orthopraxis -- right behavior. And nothing persuades people like courageous generosity, the kind that gives more than discretionary funds. Generosity is not a privilege of liberality; it is a debt owed to the poor. 


In the end Jesus proved himself as the Good Samaritan. He found us, wretched, broken and abandoned because of our own sinful folly, and he gave his life for us. In the face of such generosity, how can we restrain ours?