Mercy and Compassion

Gospel

Lk 10:25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him 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."

Sermon

This command of Jesus is addressed to all of us as well as to the lawyer in the gospel story. It compliments his command to the disciples in the upper room at the last supper “Do this in remembrance of me”. One is a command to meet him regularly in sacramental worship and the other a command to imitate him in sacrificial service.

Last week I was in Birmingham staying at a convent of the Sisters of Mercy, one of the largest religious orders in the catholic church. They have eight houses in this diocese. Their founder was a Mary McAuley from Dublin who lived in the second half of the 19^th century. She had a privileged upbringing but wished to devote her life to the service of the poor. At first she resisted the idea of becoming a religious or forming those other women who worked with her into a religious community because up to that time all religious order for women had been enclosed orders. Only when the church agreed to let her create an order for what she called ‘walking nuns’, who got out and about among the people, did she agree to take vows herself and to found the Sisters of Mercy. The order rapidly spread throughout Ireland and then crossed to England and eventually to most of the world as responded generously to a ceaseless succession of request for help from bishops and priest to “Go, and do likewise” as contemporary Good Samaritans among the poor and underprivileged all around them.

The name that Mary chose for her order is interesting. She described ‘mercy’ as ‘the principal path marked out by Jesus Christ for those who wish to follow his example’. She understood ‘mercy’ as ‘a compassionate practical response to need’ and she saw the calling of herself and her sisters as ‘offering so little resistance to the presence and power of God in their lives, that he be able to pour himself freely into another person’s heart and fill it with love’. She taught that such love flows through Christ like hands to all who have needs – the poor, the lonely, the sick, the homeless, the helpless, to all who have need of God’s love whatever shape or form that need may take.

Whilst I was with the sisters in Birmingham last week I found them actively involved with local immigrant groups and busy arranging the funeral of a homeless man they had taken in and cared for during his last days.

St Augustine has an inspiring spiritual take on the parable of the Good Samaritan. He sees Jesus as the good Samaritan and the man left injured by the roadside as wounded sinful humanity. Through his incarnation Jesus has come to cleanse us with the wine of his blood and heal us with the oil of his spirit. He entrusts us to the church, which is the inn; the innkeeper the bishop with his clergy helpers. When we experience this compassionate love of the Saviour Samaritan then we become motivated to imitate his sacrificial love by becoming good Samaritans ourselves. We learn to love by first being loved ourselves.

“Lord Jesus, you have shown us merciful compassion and love. Do not allow us to harden our hearts to the needs of others; Rather give us your spirit of compassion so that both our hearts and hands may radiate your love to all”.