Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis
with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk
Fifteenth Sunday of Year, C – July
14, 2019.
Readings: Deut. 30:10-14;
Responsorial Psalm Ps 69:14 & 17,30-31,33-34,36ab & 37 (R.v.33) or Ps
19:8,9,10,11(R.9ab); Colossians 1:15-20; Gospel Luke 10:25-37.
Theme: A Call to Revolutionary
Action
Introduction
Friends
in Christ, today the Church invites us to reflect on love of neighbour as a
reflection of the love of God. The interesting part of our liturgy is that it
presents us with a gospel for the daring. Perhaps it is important for us to
realize that we are challenged to be paradoxical heroes like the Good
Samaritan. Before we get into the meat of the reflection, I would like us to
take a look at the summary of the readings and the example of a contemporary
leader who exemplified what the readings demand.
In the
first reading (Deuteronomy 30:10-14) we are told that Moses charged the people
to obey God by keeping his ordinances. He assured that the law of the Lord is
neither in heaven nor beyond the sea that the people cannot reach. On the
contrary, he emphatically stated: “The Word is very to you, it is in your mouth
and in your heart for your observance.”
St. Paul
declares to the Colossians, in the second reading (Colossians 1:15-20), that
Christ is the image of the unseen God. He maintains that he created all things,
visible and invisible noting that he existed before creation. He adds that as
one who holds all things in being, his body is the Church and he is its head.
Paul further discloses that Christ is the first born from the dead who
reconciles everything to himself through his death on the cross.
The
Gospel (Luke 10:25-37) reading narrates the response of Jesus to the lawyer who
wanted to disconcert him by asking the question: “And who is my nieghbour?” It
was this question that made Jesus to give the story of the man who was
travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hand of brigands. We are
told that both a Priest and a Levite came and passed by on the other side but
it was a Samaritan traveler who came to his rescue.
He
garnishes the story by telling us how the foreigner was moved with pity,
bandaged his wounds, lifted him on his mount, took him to an inn and looked
after him. He was ready to pay any extra expense the following day. Meanwhile
he gave advance payment of two denarii to the innkeeper. At the end of the
story when Jesus asked he lawyer who proved nieghbour to the man who fell into
the brigand’s hands, the lawyer replied, “the one who took pity on him” and
Jesus said: “Go, and do the same yourself.” This leads us to finding a suitable contemporary
example for the Good Samaritan story.
Sometimes
last year when some armed men on motor bikes attached Nghar village in Barkin
Ladi LGA of Plateau State, they razed down houses and killed scores of persons.
In fact, in a village of about a thousand people, 84 people lost their lives in
the sad incidence. It was in the midst of this tragedy that Imam Abdullahi
Abubakar and his Fulani assistant went the extra mile to rescue 262 in a Mosque.
When the attackers reached the Mosque, the Imam risked his life by kneeling in
the dust to beg on behalf of the Christians and or Berom people he hid. He
preferred to be killed than let the attackers in. After the tension soaked situation,
he was able to convince the assailants and rescued about 300 people. In that
way, the 84 year old Muslim leader rescued Christians whom he claimed, had
always invited him to share the joy of Christmas. He also disclosed that he had
always enjoyed tremendous goodwill from them.
