15th Sunday, Ordinary Time
Introduction
Resurrection Health Care

          In today’s Gospel we hear the story of the Good Samaritan.  There is a gentle progression in the readings today.  In the first reading, Moses, the great Lawgiver, encourages the people to keep the law.  In the second reading, Paul reminds us that Jesus is the new Law.  Finally, in the gospel we see Jesus demonstrating the Law in action.
          The Lawyer who comes to Jesus knows the Law.  “Who is my neighbor?” is meant to trip Jesus up or at least to justify himself.  In answer to his question, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. 
          The road to Jericho was notorious for bandits.  There is no need to suppose that the priest and the Levite were especially cold-hearted bad people;  Perhaps they were afraid themselves and were hurrying to get to the city as quickly as possible or perhaps they were inexperienced  and didn’t know how they could help the man, especially since it looked as though he was quite beyond help anyway.
          At this point a Samaritan comes along.  His heart is wrenched open.  He had compassion.  He poured oil and wine on the man’s wounds, and bandages them, put him on his beast of burden, took him to an inn and paid the innkeeper for his care. 
          There is strong symbolism in this story:  We are the wounded strangers; Jesus is the Good Samaritan.  The Spirit is the oil; the wine the blood of Jesus, the inn the Church.  Jesus is hidden in the stranger and found in the hated Samaritan.  In the end, we are the receivers of the injunction: Go and do likewise.
          The flask of oil that you see as our symbol today represents the compassion, the medicine, the bandaging, the inn keeping and the free care.  That is part of the way Resurrection Health Care fulfills God’s commandments today. 
          Those of us who minister within Resurrection Health Care are the Good Samaritans of the 21st century giving appropriate health care to the poor, the uninsured, and the underinsured.  As with the Good Samaritan, our service is not for profit of any kind, but from a sense of God’s command that we feel in our hearts.
          The Eucharist that we celebrate today makes God’s love in Jesus present to us, to transform us into his Body, his people, building His Kingdom here on earth through love for all those in need.