Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Neighbor of the Week Award

Getting our moral bearings on the issue of immigration

07/13/2025

Luke 10:25-37 There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He said in reply, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." He replied to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live." But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.' Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him,  "Go and do likewise."

Do you know that I am a lawyer? Bishop McDonald sent me to study canon law which is the vast array of 1752 canons that make up the Code of Canon Law. That Code is the equivalent of the U.S. Constitution and 27 amendments combined. And since I am lawyer I hope you other lawyers don’t mind me telling a lawyer joke. Only lawyers should tell lawyer jokes just like only priests should tell priest jokes. So I can tell lots of jokes.

A man was on his deathbed, and he called his three closest friends to visit him, a doctor, a lawyer, and an engineer. He told them, “I know they say you can’t take it with you. But I want to try anyway. So, I’m giving you each $10,000 cash. After I die, when you come to pay your respects, place the $10,000 into the coffin with me.”

After the man passed away, the three friends came to pay their respects. Afterwards, they were all talking, and the doctor said: “I know it’s medically impossible, but I have to admit I put $9,000 in the casket and kept $1,000 for myself.” The engineer likewise chimed in: “I did all the math and realized its impossible also. But I have to admit, I put $5,000 in and left $5,000 for myself.”

The lawyer looked at them both with disgust and said: “I am disappointed in both of you. This was our friend’s last wish and neither of you held up your end. For my part, I decided to write him a check for the entire amount, and put it in the casket.” If you didn’t get that joke, just call a lawyer and he or she can explain it to you, and charge you $10,000 for the call.

In the gospel today, we see Jesus dealing with another lawyer, the predecessor of us canon lawyers, namely, a scholar of the Mosaic law. And by the way, even though God only gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai, later legislation expanded this legal code to 613 more detailed laws that essentially gutted God’s original intentions.

Thus, even though the Jewish lawyer admits to Jesus, you should “love your neighbor as yourself,” word “neighbor” had a very narrow and limited definition. Like a former U.S. president once said, “It depends on what your definition of “is” is.” In other words, for the lawyer “neighbor” no longer meant everyone.

This legal background is crucial to understand Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and how our Lord defines the word “neighbor.” How so? Well, the first two characters – the priest and the Levite – would have been the lawyer’s picks for “the neighbor of the week award.” Why? Because they acted exactly how the law prescribed, namely, not to touch a corpse because according to the parable, the man was beaten by robbers and left “half dead,” virtually a corpse.

But a Samaritan, who did not have his head full of laws but his heart full of love, immediately – and very generously – reached out to the neighbor in need. In other words, the Samaritan’s definition of neighbor included everyone without exception, which is what God had originally intended in his 10 Commandments. The Samaritan was a better Jew than the priest and Levite.

I think Jesus’ parable can help with an urgent and controversial topic of immigration, or more exactly, illegal immigration. Now, personally, I am town down the middle on this issue. Why? On the one hand I fully see the right (indeed, the need) for countries to protect their borders and enforce the laws of their land. After all, I am a trained canon lawyer, and fully believe that laws – both civil and ecclesiastical – serve the common good. They help people to live in peace and harmony.

Think of laws like street lights at traffic intersections that tell people when to stop and when to go. Although there are a lot of people in Fort Smith that could use a refresher course in basic traffic laws. Consequently, if someone enters a country illegally they should understand they run the risk of deportation, and/or other legal penalties for their actions.

But on the other hand, laws should not “trump” – pun intended – the highest law, which is the commandment to love our neighbor. Here are two ways that love of neighbor can maintain this higher status. First, all people – not neighbor in the narrow sense – have an inalienable right to due process, that is, everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty. That presumption of innocence is a bedrock legal principle without which the entire edifice of the law would be a house of straw that a strong gust of wind could blow over.

And second, we cannot lose sight of the humanity of the vast majority of illegal immigrants who are only here to provide for their families. They are in effect like the man in the parable going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and their lack of legal status makes them seem “half-dead.”

And therefore, in the estimation of many today, like in the eyes of the priest and Levite, they do not qualify for neighborly treatment. On the other hand, St. Augustine saw the wine and the oil the Samaritan used as symbols of the sacraments of Anointing and Eucharist. In other words, the Church by lavishing her sacraments on everyone, applies the broadest definition of neighbor.

My friends, we all have a right to our opinion about illegal immigration. It is complicated and each person should follow his or her conscience when formulating their own moral judgment. But one important aspect of developing our moral judgment includes how we define the word “neighbor” – narrowly or broadly. Here in the South we pride ourselves on having a very broad definition of neighbor, especially the neighbor in need. And if I had to guess, the Samaritan in the parable must have been from the South, too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

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