Year C, Lectionary 105
God is asking us to see better. To see our neighbor in need. To see that we are beaten down in need of a savior. To see that God's love, mercy and compassion lives through those we label as 'enemies.' To see our invisible God in Jesus. To see that listening to and following Christ isn't impossible, but very near to our hearts.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Abuse • Care • Commandment • Compassion • Concern • Creation • Divine • Division • Environment • Eternal Life • Faith • Fear • Grace • Healing • Heaven • Help • Hero • Interpret • Justice • Love • Mercy • Moral • Morality • Music • Neighbor • Parable • Presence • Relationship • Salvation • Samaritan • Seek • Sight • Sin • Solidarity • Surprise • Welcome •
“So, the same thing's true about Christ. In his humanity he's an icon of the invisible God, right? He makes visible the invisible reality of God, he reveals him. But it also means he's human.”
“The final command of Jesus in today’s gospel would certainly have been difficult for the lawyer. This command is just as challenging for us today: 'Go and do the same yourself.' The next step is up to us.”
“It's when you start to make up these elaborate rules for why you walk by some of the dying people and not others. That's when life gets confusing. That's when we start living in the darkness of our own two-facedness.”
“God wants to love you, but how can God love you if you stay behind the wall of fear?”
“that person you look down on today may be your only savior tomorrow. So we must bring down all the walls and build all possible bridges so that we can all be one in God as he intends.”
“Is neighbor a noun or a verb? Is it someone that you live near or someone who draws near to you in a time of need? Is neighbor something you have or something you do?”
“what kind of neighbor am I? How can I reach out to the other with compassion unscathed irrespective of my own status and the status of the other?”
“it's critical to remember that the interpretation of the Torah, of the Law, scriptures, was hotly debated by scholars in the 1st century as today”
“Practicing compassion and solidarity is not weakness. It is a sign of our common humanity. It is embracing hope.”
“Fratelli tutti reminds us that belief in God and the worship of God are not enough to ensure that we are actually living in a manner pleasing to God”
“If you pay attention to the parable you would notice that while the lawyer's question was 'who is my neighbor?' Jesus rephrased the question into 'how can you prove yourself a neighbor?'”
“If we spend too much time trying to determine 'who is my neighbor?' rather than spending our time helping our neighbors, we will find ourselves no better off than the Israelites wandering through the desert...we can find the promised land in the hearts of those who we help and ultimately in the heart of God”