St. Therese of Lisieux, on this your feast day, please pray a blessing on us that each of us gets closer to Jesus every day.
Our country is preparing for another presidential election, and a spirit of hate fills the air. Since when did politics become an exercise in mudslinging? Where does all the hate come from? Are political candidates so evil that they need to be demonized? There are groups in front of abortion clinics praying that this great evil be ended. And there are groups standing on street corners protesting the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Sadly, members of these groups do not overlap, even though the members of both groups attend Christians Churches.
Things were not much different in Jesus’ day. Hatred and prejudice filled the political air then as it does now. The Jews looked down upon the “half breed” Samaritans and would not let them into their temple services. At the same time the Samaritans wouldn’t give a Jew the time of day. The result of this is that some Samaritans because they hated the Jews, rejected Jesus as well. We read about this today (Luke 9:51-56).
“When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.”
How sad. Jesus loved the Samaritans as much as, and maybe more, than he loved the pure-bred Jews. He was headed to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover knowing that the religious leaders would arrest him and put him to death. Do you think Jesus had positive feeling for these people? Do you think he supported the fact that the Samaritans were not allowed to worship at God’s temple? One of his greatest acts of mercy took place at Jacob’s well in Samaria when he gave a hopeless woman a new start in life.
Jesus was doing the Father’s will as he journeyed to Jerusalem for the final time. The Samaritan village refused to welcome him because he was a “pure bred” Jew who was attending the Passover feast that they were banned from. They saw Jesus as an opponent rather than the Son of God. He honored them by making their village one of the last places he visited before his death. While there he would teach them of God’s unprejudiced love for them, how God wanted the walls erected by the Jews to be broken down, and how the Kingdom of God was open to everyone. While he was there he would give them a taste of salvation by healing the sick among them. This was a sacred moment for the people of that village having God’s own son visit them, but because of their prejudice they turned him away. They “threw the baby out with the bath water.” Because they hated Jews, they shut the door on Jesus.
Are we any different today? Has our faith got so mixed up with the bath water of politics that we run the risk of tossing out the truth as we toss out the dirty water?
Jesus continues to visit us as he did the people of Samaria. Because of the baggage that some associate with him, many do not give him the time of day. Many, governed by prejudice instead of the Holy Spirit, turn away from Jesus as he knocks on the doors of their hearts. Because of false impressions of him they reject the mercy he offers them and choose to struggle and stumble along without his help.
We must protect ourselves from the waves of hate that fill the air today. We must remind ourselves that civil government is not the answer to life, Jesus is. We must reaffirm our faith that Jesus is the only Messiah, and the Kingdom of God is the only kingdom that will last.
Today we make a conscious choice to welcome Jesus even if he is journeying to Jerusalem. Let us be among those who love and accept him rather than those who shut their hearts to him.
