Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 105

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"

The scholar of the law in today's gospel ask an important existential question, but in the wrong context. He wants a quarrel and he would do it with an unanswerable query. He intends to raise doubt and confusion in a cloud of obfuscation around the Lord and his followers. 

But Jesus, using a standard technique for dealing with blowhards, asks the man's own opinion. When Jesus agrees entirely with the fellow -- that we should love both God and our neighbor as the scriptures say -- the fellow persists with another idle question about words and their meaning, "And who is my neighbor?" 

And again, Jesus replies with a question, "Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"

The fellow must answer with the obvious. No one in the crowd could answer differently. Whatever doubt or confusion this fellow might have created has been cleared away. Finally, Jesus dismisses the scholar of the law not with a question but a command, "Go and do likewise!" 

There is your answer to your existential question. And now you must answer; is your being justified? Have you a right to exist, breathe air, take up space, hope, laugh, receive the kindness of others? Or, are you just a slug, doomed to extinction for never having cared for anyone, for never giving your life that others may live?

The book Metropolis describes how human beings have built enormous cities and, by so doing, created an easier way of life. (I can recommend it for its optimism.) Safe in the bosom of the city, we don't struggle at every hour to survive. There are no lions, tigers, and bears prowling our streets, We have built levees against floods and fences against prowlers and walls against enemies. Our existence is more assured in the city. 

However, by its efficiency and anonymity, a large city can also protect its citizens from existential questions. Rome was notorious for its bread and circuses. The happy, stupid crowd didn't care about the internecine wars among Roman senators so long as they could watch mock sea battles in the Coliseum. Even Saint Augustine found the spectacles compelling. The city finds ways to satisfy the restless hunger of its people and keep them subdued. Cheap alcohol, entertainment, and patriotic propaganda settle most disputes without answering existential questions like, "What must I do to enter eternal life?"

Twenty centuries later, Jesus's command to the scholar challenges our malaise. Go and do something courageous, kind, unexpected, and necessary for your neighbor! Our entertainment systems would tell us of gladiators in Ukraine and tragic stories in Afghanistan. But when they offer human interest stories we see neighbors in distress. Nor is the command Go and do likewise patient with our dithering. Feeling overwhelmed by the world's enormous sorrow is no excuse for doing nothing. 

The Spirit of God readily answers the scholar's question, "What should I do?" Gateways of opportunity open readily; and volunteers find existential purpose when they choose the narrow way of generosity. Because the city provides time for leisure, we can hear and obey the Lord's command to pray, fast, and give alms. In the words of today's collect, God shows us the light of truth and we take the right path.