Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Gospels show us that Jesus was – not only as God, but also as a man – an extremely impressive personality. When He walked on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, two simple words He said – "Follow me!" – were enough to make the hardened fishermen leave everything behind and dedicate their lives to Him. When the resurrected Jesus saw Mary grieving at the empty tomb, He just had to call her name and right away she would recognize Jesus and forget her sorrow.

Today’s Gospel shows the same. Jesus said: “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.” Hearing this, a lawyer stood up and asked: “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“

We have no reason to think that the lawyer asked this question to tempt Jesus. On the contrary, it seems that he was deeply touched and sincerely taken by the words of Jesus and immediately wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life.

Jesus did not give him any extraordinary answer. He only repeated what every Jew knows from childhood: “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” The lawyer did not like this; he had expected something “more”, something “deeper”. But Jesus didn’t back down. On the contrary, he further emphasized the total everydayness of his point, telling the parable of the Good Samaritan and saying: “Go, and do thou likewise.“

We too often expect something extraordinary from Jesus. But he, on the contrary, usually does not expect anything extraordinary from us. Rather, He expects from us the simple and most ordinary acts of charity toward our neighbors.