15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 12/13 2025

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. . .  

Jesus doesn’t use any religious or social labels to describe the man, and he doesn’t tell us if he was a good man or a bad man.  An important man or an unimportant man.

Because all of that  is irrelevant.  This man was a human being, that’s  all that matters.

And this man fell victim to robbers.  Heartless, violent men, who prey on the weak and vulnerable.  Jesus lived in the real world and so he knew that such people existed and so do we. . .

A priest and a levite saw him lying half dead, but passed by on the opposite side of the road. The priest and levite were religious people, yet they felt no compassion for this wounded man.

Religion, without compassion, is a contradiction.  Without compassion one cannot even call oneself a decent human being, much less a truly religious person. . .

But, a Samaritan traveler came upon him.  He saw the wounded man, felt compassion for him, and at once jumped in to help him. The Samaritan wasn’t worried about the trouble it might cause him or cost him.  Nor was he worried about whether or not the man was a Jew, as Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies at the time.

This Samaritan helper doesn’t care if the man is good or bad, important or unimportant.  He just cares that the man is a human being, in distress, and needs help, and he knows he can help him. He saw someone in distress and came to his aid, no questions asked.

At the beginning of this story - found only in St. Luke’s Gospel – we know very little about the priest, the levite, or the Samaritan.  And at the end of the story, we still don’t know much about them. But we know all that matters. Because we know the type of person each was.  Their true characters have been revealed to us. The priest and the levite were self-centered. When the crunch came, when they could have easily put their faith into action, they put themselves first. The Samaritan, on the other hand, was an unselfish person.  He was able to reach out and put someone else first.

We can assume that both the priest and the Levite were good at keeping the laws which Judaism required of them.  That’s why they were a priest and a levite, but evidently, they were just going through the motions, as their hearts were left unchanged, for if their observance of religion did have an effect on them, they would have felt compassion, they would have felt love, they would have been able to forget about themselves just for a while and helped the man in the ditch on the side of the road, as did the Samaritan. 

We don’t know if the Samaritan practiced any type of religion, but he had love in his heart. He was moved with compassion at the sight of the man.   He was able to Hold on to love – regardless of the circumstances. Regardless of the risk. Regardless of the cost.

And if we are true disciples of Jesus, coming here week after week, then our hearts should be changed, and we should be able to show others, sometimes, even complete strangers, compassion, otherwise we are just going through the motions like the priest and the levite.

Like the Samaritan, we are called to hold on to love:

When terror and fear overwhelm us:  hold on to love.  Courage and faith will sustain us:  hold on to love. When violence seeks to destroy us:  hold on to love.   Acts of compassion restore us:  hold on to love.

Hold on to love, where hope is found.  Hold on to love where joy abounds.  Hold on to love where grace and mercy overflowing:  hold on to love.  

The Samaritan who we call good, was able to hold to love. And to show a complete stranger compassion because he was in distress,  And so should we. 

Because religion, without compassion, is a contradiction.  Without compassion one cannot even call oneself a decent human being,  much less a religious person. . .

So hold on to love.