Walking with Jesus: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, July 13, 2025

Deuteronomy 30:10-14, Colossians 1:15-20, Luke 10:25-37


When we look at our past life, we see one of the amazing gifts of God: sending us people for a moment — or a bit of time — or a long time — who have touched us in a special way. We call them momentary angels, fellow workers, neighbors, friends, dear friends. But what is important is that they have touched us when it was needed: Somehow they got through our thick skulls … stubbornness … moodiness … whatever ... and said the rock-bottom truth we needed to hear: You are not God’s prized recruit; you, like all, are loved by God; we are all in the same “ballgame.” We have to know that it is all about God’s love. This is what the readings are about today. We just have to take time and reflect on each reading slowly, with God at our side.

Moses makes this point plainly and bluntly: “If only you would heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and keep His commandments and statutes that are written in His book of the law when you return to the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.” [Deuteronomy 30:10]

Jesus repeats this message in the Gospel, indicating that it is not enough to want to follow Jesus and be committed to Him. It is not enough to say I believe — discipleship also demands each of us to make the necessary shifts in understanding in order to recognize what following Jesus requires. AM I DOING THAT? Do I allow God to be God to me and lead me to what He wants of me, versus what I want of myself? His way is the only way to heaven — do I really realize this?

Almost from the very beginning, Christianity seems to have pitted faith in Jesus against observance of the law. Jesus and the New Testament writers never sought to abolish the law, rather they insisted that a proper understanding of the law is essential. Law as found in Moses continues to play an important role in both Jewish and Christian life today. That’s what Moses is insistent on today: The people have turned from the Lord in disloyalty and now have returned to the Lord in repentance and are entering into a renewed covenant relationship. Moses uses the term “with all your heart and all your soul” [Deuteronomy 30:11], a technical phrase that denotes all of one’s being. It is associated with the law of God, the first and greatest commandment on which all the others find their completion. Is this too hard? Moses says NO, “it is not too mysterious and remote for you” [Deuteronomy 30:11]. Live it each day. How? In gratitude and living love. Each day our reflection is, “Am I living my love of God by living love, or is my love selfish … all about me and not helping those God has placed in my life?”

Paul’s reading contains a hymn praising Jesus. It sings the praises of the divine character and activity of Christ rather than glorifying His human nature and His physical life on earth. He uses phrases like “the image of God” … “firstborn” … “the beginning” …“head of the Church.” So Jesus is more than a symbol; rather, He is the image of God. Pauls words extol the divine nature of Jesus and the power He exercises. So the fullness of God dwells within Christ. In this capacity He is the agent of reconciliation by the blood of the cross. Thus the sacrificial death of the human Jesus becomes the means through which the cosmic Christ reconciles all creation with God. How am I honoring Jesus the Christ in my life? Do I listen? Do I act? Do I love?

We hear today that Jesus is a master storyteller. He asks, who is my neighbor? That means: “Whom must I love to fulfill the second great command of God?” Jesus speaks of a Jew and a Samaritan. He employs this example deliberately because there is a deep enmity between them. Samaritans are considered outsiders — not God’s chosen people, not to be loved — they have “bastardized” the Jewish faith. Yet the Samaritan treats this poor Jew, who has been beaten and robbed, and cares for his wounds and recovery. His care is active and positive. A good lesson for us today: Jesus’ world is tough and cruel; people of certain nationalities are described in derogatory terms; certain races are seen as threats and treated with prejudice, injustice and hatred, often defended with a cliche or slogan. Hmm ... kind of sounds like our world today. Also, concerning the priest and the Levite, Jesus clearly means that they are NOT good neighbors … no, they haven't done anything wrong — they are not the ones who beat and robbed the Jew or trampled on his rights as a human being. But they just left him alone. It was not what they did but what they failed to do ... “so don’t blame me.”  

So I reflect on:

• Christians must be positive, active: This means more than prayer for others.
• It involves kindness … reining in my own prejudice … treating each human being with respect, understanding one’s plight and showing compassion. My reflection today!

Sacred Space 2025 states:

“Our Lord reduced all the commandments to two, namely to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. These two are really two parts of the one great commandment to love, which is the whole purpose for our being on this earth. When our Lord meets us in judgment upon our death, I believe the only question He will ask of us will be, ‘How have you loved?’ And if we have reached the full development of our individual capacity to love then we are ready to merge with God who is Love and so can enter heaven. It is out of the one loving heart that we love all.”