Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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A few years ago, the average cost of raising a child in America rose to nearly a quarter of a million dollars. If you had two children, half a million. Four? Over a million. Today it’s even higher. That’s excluding luxuries like beach vacations, private schools, and college tuition.
It’s nearly impossible – and ludicrous – for a child to imagine repaying their parents for every penny and dollar spent. Not to mention the “intangibles” parents give: love, peace, security, hope, and wisdom.
While we cannot repay our parents in dollars and cents for our childhood blessings, we can do two things: Say, “Thank you.” And pay it forward.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus chastises several towns he visited after performing miracles of healing and forgiveness.
While he wasn’t expecting to be repaid in terms of dollars and cents – he couldn’t be – Jesus did expect the townspeople to repent, to be thankful, and to pay his goodness forward.
But to his chagrin, they take him for granted by returning to their old ways of life as if the Lord was never there.
“Woe to you!” he says.
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Like the townspeople of Chorazin and Bethsaida, Jesus has done good things for us – both as individuals and as a community of faith.
Perhaps the Lord is prompting us to consider: In what ways do we pay it forward?
Maybe we extend his forgiveness to a neighbor after being forgiven ourselves… We feed the hungry after being fed by Christ… We intercede on another person’s behalf knowing both the Spirit and this community of faith intercede on our behalf.
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Much like children who cannot repay their parents, we cannot repay the Lord for his goodness to us. But we can pay it forward.
How might we do that today?
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Image credits: (1) Jesus Follower (2) USDA Institute for Family Studies, 2017 (3) Impact 100 Cincinnati, Pay it Forward
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple– amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s one thing that all parents, grandparents, priests, and ministers of the Gospel have in common: We plant seeds.
Seeds of kindness, hope, wisdom, love, and faith, often, in the hearts of younger generations – children and grandchildren.
Sometimes we live to see the fruits of our labor. Other times, we don’t.
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Such was the case for Father Isaac Jogues.
Isaac was a French Jesuit, who was one of the first missionaries to bring the Gospel to the Native Americans in the 1600’s. Four years before he was martyred, Isaac was beaten and tortured so badly that he was already regarded as a “living martyr.”
He spent his ministry in America planting seeds of faith without seeing its fruit.
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Ten years after his death, a girl named Kateri, whose feast day we celebrate today, was born in the village where Isaac was killed. Her parents and brother died in a smallpox epidemic when she was four. Raised thereafter by her uncle, Kateri was left nearly blind with scars across her face.
The locals called her, “Tekakwitha,” which meant, “she who bumps into things.”
Throughout her childhood, Kateri listened to other French priests who passed through her village, following in the footsteps of Fr. Isaac.
Although she said nothing to them as a child, when she turned eighteen, she sought to be baptized. In a village that gave no welcome to Christians, Kateri became a Christian.
After enduring a year of abuse by her relatives for professing her faith – as Jesus predicted in today’s Gospel – Kateri decided to make a 200-mile journey on foot to a Native and Christian village outside of Montreal.
There she embraced a life of penance, praying for the conversion of her people, accepting Christ as her Spouse.
Almost 350 years later, in 2012, Kateri was canonized as the first Native American Saint.
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While Fr. Isaac died without ever seeing the fruit of his labor, he reminds us that some of the seeds we plant will, in time, bear good fruit.
May we all plant a seed of faith today.
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Image credits: (1) emmausbiblechapel.net (2) Saint Kateri Catholic Church(3) Heart Treasure, WordPress
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?” He said in reply, “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.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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The trouble with the parable of the Good Samaritan is the fact that we’re all familiar with it. We’ve heard it so many times that we might’ve already concluded – even before I begin preaching this sermon – what the ultimate point is: be kind; do good.
Yet when Jesus shared this parable, he intended to shock his audience, which begs the question:
Do we modern listeners really want to hear the message that Jesus intended? Are we willing to feel the shock and scandal that his immediate audience felt?
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Perhaps the best way to illuminate the meaning of this parable is to place it in a more modern context.
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Twenty years ago, a Palestinian father watched as the body of his twelve-year-old son was lowered into the ground. Just days earlier, his child was accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers who were executing a raid inside their refugee camp.
Immediately after the doctor pronounced his son’s death, this grieving father had to make an unimaginable decision: what to do with his son’s organs. He understood the importance of such a decision because his own brother died from kidney failure.
So, he and his wife decided to donate their son’s vital organs to anyone in need – male or female, Palestinian or Jew. All six recipients were Israelis, including a twelve-year-old girl in northern Israel who had been waiting for a heart transplant for five years.
When they heard the news, the boy’s parents said, “Part of our son is still alive. We gave life to someone else. We proved that we want peace.”
They became, using Jesus’ imagery, “good Samaritans.”
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This is what created such shock and scandal when the Lord first spoke this parable. As sworn enemies, Jews and Samaritans shared a bitter history and mutual hatred.
Making the parable all the more insulting is the fact that the hero is neither a priest nor a Levite. Both of these religious figures proved themselves to be indifferent, leaving a man half-dead along the roadside.
But the Samaritan proved to be virtuous.
In fact, the Samaritan is so compassionate that he not only helps the half-dead man up; he pours oil and wine over his wounds and bandages them.
Then he carries the injured man to an inn, cares for him overnight, pays his bill, and leaves extra money with the owner so that the wounded man can stay until he’s healthy enough to go home.
And the good Samaritan does all of it anonymously.
This is the highest form of charity – performing a good deed without the need for recognition or praise.
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In order to plumb the depths of what it means to be a neighbor, Jesus invites us to see this parable through the eyes of the half-dead stranger.
Unlike the other characters in the parable, the injured man is not identified by his profession, social class, religion, or ethnicity; he could be anyone. To him, it doesn’t matter who helps him; what matters is that someone helps him.
In his hour of greatest need, the boundaries between Jews and Samaritans are erased. He’s simply a human in need of compassion; and only another human can save him.
This leads us to consider: Who would we allow to help us if, like the man dying on the roadside, we were in need? Would it matter who the person is or where they’re from? Or would our common bond of humanity be enough?
Once a person comes to our aid, they are no longer anonymous; they become part of our community, a neighbor.
Such a truth is reinforced by that innocent twelve-year-old girl in need of a heart transplant. In her hour of need, it didn’t matter who the heart came from – male or female, Palestinian or Jew. She simply wanted to live.
Because of the overwhelming generosity of the slain boy’s parents, she did. Their son – and by extension his parents – became her neighbor.
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What might this mean for us today?
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At our very core, human beings are good. We were created in the image and likeness of God, who is love. Thus, peace in this world, in our nation, in our homes and hearts is possible.
It begins and ends with a single question:
Will you be my neighbor?
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Image credits: (1) Mandy Hale (2) The Good Samaritan, WH Marcetson, thecripplegate.com (3) Love Thy Neighbor, George MacDonald
