Deuteronomy 30:10-14 / Colossians 1:15-20 / Luke 10:25-37
The word “convenient” is a nice sounding word, and with it comes certain expectations.
Convenient means that the situation or the circumstances fit well into our needs, into our schedules and into our plans.
Convenient may also mean involving little trouble or effort.
And we like it when life has its conveniences and makes us comfortable.
Just think about the 24-hour convenience stores that are also conveniently located.
If we ever need something like an instant meal or some common grocery at an odd hour, those convenient stores would probably have what we are looking for.
And in our country, we are spoiled with convenience.
There are those 24-hour petrol stations, 24-hour food outlets and 24-hour department stores.
So, it is like whatever we want and whenever we want it, it is conveniently there for us.
All these conveniences of life, however, create an attitude in us.
It makes us take things for granted and feel entitled.
In the gospel, a lawyer wanted to disconcert Jesus, and he asked Him about what needs to be done to inherit eternal life.
The lawyer wanted to unsettle Jesus. Since he was a lawyer, Jesus asked him about what is written in the Law.
And the lawyer was precise: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart come up with all your soul, with all the strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.
But the lawyer still didn't let go, and was anxious to justify himself, and so he asked a rather questionable question: And who is my neighbour.
And out of the lips of Jesus, came this beautiful parable of what is commonly known as the parable of the Good Samaritan.
More than just a Good Samaritan, he can also be called a Strange Samaritan.
Like the priest and the Levite, he also can be excused for not helping the injured man.
The priest and the Levite had to keep themselves ritually clean for their religious duties, and cannot be defiled with blood.
Samaritans and Jews had a hostility towards each other, so the Samaritan was not obligated at all to help the injured man.
But whether it was the priest, or the Levite or the Samaritan, there is no doubt that it would be very inconvenient to help the injured man.
But as the parable shows us, the response to inconvenience is compassion.
The Samaritan traveller was moved with compassion when he saw the injured man.
The Samaritan could have gone the way of convenience, and looked away, and walked away.
But he looked at the injured man, and he was moved with compassion towards him.
In a world where we go with convenience and what is convenient, we may not want to think about compassion.
As we heard in the parable, to be moved by compassion would mean that it is going to be inconvenient, is going to be troublesome, and we may even have to fork out money to pay for someone else's problem.
And it is also not convenient to be a Christian.
Just as the Samaritan is commonly called “good”, we too have an adjective before our religious identity, and that is “compassionate Catholic”.
The second reading says that Jesus is the image of the unseen God, and we are the image of the compassion of Christ.
In the first reading, Moses tells the people that God's Word is very near to them, it is in their mouths, it is in their hearts, for their observance.
So is the compassion of Christ. It is in our heart, in our soul, in our mind and in our strength.
It was compassion that moved the Samaritan.
It is the compassion of Christ that will also move us.
May the compassion of Christ move us away from our desire for convenience and for what is convenient.
And may the compassion of Christ move us to be compassionate and loving, and to look at that neighbour whom we have been conveniently avoiding.