WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME. YEAR C.
(First reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14) (Second reading: Colossians 1:15-20)
(Gospel: Luke 10:25-37)
July 15, 2007.

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

Who is my neighbor? All human beings.
Every human being is our neighbor. No one is excluded. However, we tend to exclude those who have fallen into disgrace, those who suffer, those who are victims of wrongdoing; we tend to exclude people like the "man who fell victim to robbers" (Luke 10:30).

Furthermore, our neighbor is more clearly revealed in the person of the victim. Why? because the victim is in more dire need of compassion; because the victim is the product of the wrongdoing of other human beings; because Jesus himself is the victim of the crimes and sins of his fellow human beings. Just look at Jesus on the cross! In him you can see a victimized humanity.

The "man who fell victim to the robbers" is a neighbor to all, but only the Samaritan treated him as a neighbor. The Samaritan felt compassion for the victim and exposed two types of wrongdoings:
1. The wrongdoings of the robbers who caused harm to a human being: and

2. The indifference of the "priest and the Levite", indifference which has the same effect as the wrongdoings of the robbers (for by the inaction of "the priest and the levite", the victim remained half-dead).

Our world is full of both types of wrongdoings:
- The wrongdoings of those who harm their fellow human beings; and
- The wrongdoings of those who ignore the victim.

Those who harm their fellow human beings are those who wage war, those who deprive their fellow human beings of what they need to live on, those who live by the lie, those who destroy human live before birth, those who destroy families.

Those who ignore the victim are those who cover their eyes so as not to see the plight of the suffering, those who prefer to convince themselves that we live in a "wonderful world".

Why do the evildoers of the world ignore the victim?
Because the victim is the product of the evildoers themselves.

Paradoxically, as the evildoers increase the visibility of our neighbors, the same evildoers become more intent on ignoring their own victims.

Who do you think your neighbor is?