Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Gospel reading the renowned story of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus to the Pharisees who asked Him about how to live their lives faithfully in obedience to God. The story of the Good Samaritan certainly is familiar to all of us, and we know how the Samaritan man helped the person who had been attacked by bandits, while the teacher of the Law and the Levite passed on by without helping him.

Then in the first reading from the Book of the prophet Jonah, we yet heard again another of those famous stories from the Bible, namely Jonah and the whale, where we would have heard and remembered how Jonah spent three whole days and three nights inside the belly of a whale, and he did not die because the Lord saved him through the whale and safely brought him to the shore.

The lesson which we ought to take away from the readings of today is that firstly, we cannot be idle or escape from our responsibilities, from the mission which our Lord had entrusted us with. Jonah tried to run away from his responsibility of bringing the revelation of God to the people of Nineveh, but he was unable to, as during his journey in the sea, he encountered that great storm that eventually caused him to decide to throw himself to the sea.

And from there God called him to continue his mission to the people of Nineveh, and Jonah went on to preach to the people of Nineveh who listened to his warnings, repented together with their king, all their animals and beasts, and God spared them from punishment and destruction. And then, the Samaritan, who went on to help the man robbed on his way to Jericho, as an example of how God does His works through all of us.

How is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because if we act like the priest and the Levite who passed the wounded man by, then we are not doing our part as a disciple and follower of our Lord. That wounded and robbed man represent sinners and those who have been wounded by sin, living in a darkened world. If we just ignore them, then there is truly little or no opportunity for them to attain God’s salvation.

Certainly, if we look at it, the priest and the Levite portrayed in the story of the Good Samaritan clearly did not have any virtue or goodness attributed to them at all. And so, they deserved neither praise nor good things, but condemnation and the anger of God. Imagine, had they moved a finger to help the wounded man, they would have saved him and prevented him from death. Instead, when they were fully capable of helping, they ignored and abandoned him.

Therefore, today, let us all reflect on our own lives and actions. Do we want to be like the priest and the Levite who just walked past the wounded man, ignoring and abandoning him for death? If we do so, then perhaps we may have a more enjoyable and less challenging life ahead of us, as is our nature, caring about ourselves first rather than worrying about the rest and others around us.

But if we do so, then remember well what Jesus had said about those who have not done what they could, in what to expect for them in the day of judgment. Those who have failed to act and help as they were expected to will end up cast away and condemned because of their failures to provide help, and whenever they have ignored and abandoned the last, the least, the weakest and the oppressed. Their place is to be with the devil and his fellow fallen angels, in the eternity of suffering.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us all be touched in our hearts, so that we may be ever willing to reach out to help the less fortunate, especially our brethren who are still lost in the darkness of sin and the wickedness of evil. Let us not be ignorant to their call for help, but instead reach out to them to help them find their way to salvation. May God be with us all always. Amen.