They were the people that everyone hated. They were the
Samaritans. The Romans and Greeks and other gentiles hated them because they
saw them as just another group of Jews, only ones who could not benefit the
empire much. The Jews hated them because they saw the Samaritans as
half-breeds. The Jews believed that the Samaritans had polluted blood, part
gentile and part Jew.
Back in the 8th century before Christ, the Assyrians
conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and brought thousands to exile in
Assyria. Many of those who remained in the Northern Kingdom married pagans and
worshiped both Yahweh and the pagan gods.
These were the Samaritans. When two hundred years later the Jews of the
Southern Kingdom returned to Jerusalem from the Babylon exile, the Samaritans
offered to help them rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The Jews refused their help telling them that their very presence
in the Temple would desecrate it. The Samaritans hated the Jews for looking
down on them, and the Jews hated the Samaritans for their history of
accommodation with the pagans.
The Samaritans were also looking for the Messiah, but
they knew that the Messiah would come through the Jews. What chance did they
have of being brought into the New World Order the Messiah would establish? On
the other side of the dispute, as difficult as the Jewish had in accepting the
concept that salvation would be available for the gentiles, the concept that
salvation would be offered to the Samaritans was not even considered a remote
possibility. The Samaritans were
lower than low.
And then Philip arrived at the capital of Samaria. He
spoke about the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Could it be that the Messiah of the
Jews would also be the Messiah of the Samaritans? The Samaritans were open to
faith in the Gospel. Through Philip they witnessed the signs of the Messiah
being worked right there among them.
Cripples walked. Demons came out of people. Everything that the prophets
wrote about was taking place not just among the Jewish Christians, but right
there among the Samaritans. They accepted Jesus with joy. They were no longer
rejects, but one with the people of the New Way of Jesus Christ.
As happy as they were, the new Samaritan Christians
were given an even greater gift as they could have ever expected. Peter and John had heard about Philip’s
work among them. The two great apostles went to Samaria. They prayed over them
asked God to send the Holy Spirit upon them. They laid their hands on them and
the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit the same way that the apostles received
the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. It was very clear to all the followers of
Jesus, these Samaritans were equals in the faith, equals in the Body of Christ,
and equals in salvation.
Have you ever had feelings like those Samaritans must
have had before Philip visited them with the Gospel? Have you ever felt that you were not good enough to receive
the gifts of the Lord? Have you
ever looked at another person in the Church and wished you could be half as
good as he or she is? Perhaps we
have all felt that way at various times throughout our lives! Perhaps some here
are feeling that way right now. This reading tells us that in the eyes of God
we are good enough. He makes us good enough. He calls us to faith, and then
showers us with the gifts of faith. The joy that the Samaritans had is our joy.
We are loved by God. He gave us His very life. He gave us his very spirit, the Holy Spirit. We are precious
in the eyes of God. We are also
precious in the eyes of all who truly proclaim God.
It is a mistake for me to compare myself with other
priests. It is wrong for you to
compare yourselves with other people at whatever stage of life you are in. We
are individuals, not clones. It is wrong for any of us to think, as the
Samaritans must have thought, that we are not as good as others. God loves each
of us for whom we are, not for whom we think we should be like, but for whom He
created us to be. We are created in the image and likeness of God; yet in the
mystery of God’s creation, each of us is a unique reflection of this image and
likeness. He loves us for whom we are. We are not rejects. We are precious,
precious in the eyes of God, and precious in the eyes of all those who really
love the Lord.
And He gave us His Son. We possess Jesus Christ. In
the Gospel reading Jesus says, I am in
the Father. You are in me, and I
am in you. We are not orphans. We are not alone in the world. We are not
rejects from the society that matters. For the society that matters is called
the Kingdom of God. Every other society has value only to the degree that it
participates in the Kingdom of God.
We belong to God. He
belongs to us.
The Samaritans embraced the New Way, embraced Jesus
because He first embraced them through the teaching of Philip. This is the way
of Grace. Grace always begins with God’s gifts of love. It reaches its goal
when we respond by loving God in return. We have received grace. God has
showered us with His love. Now He calls us to give witness to the world that
His love is real. We can do this. We can proclaim Jesus Christ with our lives.
We are good enough, plenty good enough.
We are sons and daughters of God! ■
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