Reflection on Ordinary Time
All Sundays are not equal during the liturgical year. The most
important Sunday is Easter Sunday commemorating the Resurrection of
Jesus. Without the resurrection, there would be no Catholic Church and
we would all find ourselves someplace else on Sunday morning.
Following in importance are the theme Sundays that lead us toward an
important event: The Sundays of Lent lead to Good Friday; the Sundays
after Easter lead to Pentecost; the Sundays of Advent lead to the birth
of Jesus. There are also individual Sundays throughout the liturgical
year commemorating special feast days: Epiphany of the Lord, Baptism of
the Lord, Most Holy Trinity, Body and Blood of Christ. This year the
Assumption falls on Sunday and Christ the King is the last Sunday of
the liturgical calendar.
All other Sundays are labeled Ordinary Time, meaning the day-to-day
life of Jesus found in the gospel stories. Initially it would seem that
when we consider that the gospel stories are about Jesus’
life, the name for these Sundays should be Extraordinary Time. However,
that misses the point since extraordinary means beyond the norm and
what the gospel stories are trying to reveal to us, in Jesus, is the
norm, the attitudes that you and I should aspire to in our ordinary
day-to-day lives.
A few weeks ago, I was once again convicted by Luke’s parable
of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37). It begins with the question
that all of us have asked or at least thought about, “What
must I do to inherit eternal life?” We later find out that
the real question was, “What’s the minimum I must
do….?” Jesus seldom answers a question directly
because, while knowledge may confirm or even change an opinion, it does
not, of itself, change a person’s heart, and that is what
Jesus wants to do for each of us. So instead of answering the question,
Jesus asks the man to tell him what he thinks is the answer.
Knowledgeable of the law, the man says we are to love God above all
things and our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus responds by telling the man
that if he follows what he knows, he will live. But that is not the end
of the story, because Jesus isn’t satisfied with just living.
He wants the man (and us) to have life and be life giving. The scholar
of the law reveals the condition of his heart by asking Jesus,
“Who is my neighbor?” He wants to limit the concept
of neighbor, whereas Jesus’ aim is to expand the notion of
neighbor by telling the familiar story of the Good Samaritan.
As we know, Jews and Samaritans despised each other and so the most
unlikely person in the story to aid the beaten person along the
roadside would have been the Samaritan. He is called
“good” because of what he did. We know nothing else
about him or his disposition, but it could be fair to say that his
heart was equally predisposed to despise the man that had been beaten
and robbed.
The story tells us that other Jews passed by the wounded man unwilling
to come to his aid for what were probably, in their minds, good
reasons. Both were people who knew the law, but the law did little to
expand their hearts. The man on the side of the road was not their
neighbor. The Samaritan on the other hand was moved with compassion (a
description of the heart rather than the head) and did all he could for
the injured person.
The man said that it was “the one who showed
mercy.” I have to ask myself how often I pass up the
opportunity to be neighbor to someone in need. Probably more often than
I think I do. Sometimes it is because of indifference, but more often
it is because I don’t have the time, or more accurately, I
don’t make the time. I am too focused on myself and other
things that are more important to me. My image of neighbor must be
expanded, like the man who knew the law but wanted to put restrictions
upon when it should be put into practice. Broadening my perspective is
less for the sake of the person in need than it is for myself if I am
to have life, be life-giving and obtain eternal life.
The injured person along the side of the road plays a significant role
in the story because he turns out to be a blessing to the Samaritan. He
and his condition moved the Samaritan to compassion and mercy, two
words we use to describe the qualities of God.
Eternal life does not begin after death. It is present in the ordinary
time of our daily life if we allow God to first convict us and then
convert us to a broader view of neighbor.
Don Stanner, Lay Minister