Thirtieth Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Exodus 22:20-26
1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10
Matthew 22:34-40

When I was a youngster, I knew everyone who lived on Wolcott Street. There was no need for a formal “neighborhood watch” because everyone watched. If mom wasn’t home when we returned from school, we went next door where Mrs. Hanley was waiting for us. Chicago was a city of neighborhoods. I often wonder what urban children today imagine when they hear the word “neighbor.” Do they think of the faceless crowds at the Tri-Met station? Have they already acquired the cosmic consciousness of those who say that everyone is their neighbor?

Those of us who have known the intimacy of the disappearing neighborhood are more likely to understand the implication of loving one’s neighbor. For too many of us, though, love is defined by intimacy. Today’s society seems more able to keep us apart than to unite us. We have learned to shield ourselves from the people who surround us. It is difficult to evaluate our lives by these remote relationships.

The first reading is Old Testament in fact and in tone. The contrast between that reading and the Gospel is striking. It has been said that the Book of Exodus is to the Hebrew Scriptures what the Paschal Mystery is to Christianity. The union between God and the Israelites was unique. The Book of Exodus announces the specific stipulations incumbent on the Jews as a result of this covenantal relationship. The religious and moral life of the Christian is an assent to the dominion of God coming to us in Christ. It pervades the very life of the believer. It is acquiescence to the Kingdom of God’s love.

By saying “yes” to the divine dominion, we recognize and acknowledge that we are brothers and sisters of Christ. We are neighbors.

Most of us do fairly well in generally relating to widows, orphans, and the poor. They represent a category of society that we feel we are able to define. We can seemingly discharge our obligations toward many by exercising a “bias toward the poor.” It would be very difficult to say that we love them.

On the other hand, we are fairly comfortable in saying that we truly love God. Surely, he is lovable. But, what of those who fall outside the immediate circle of our friends and family? We meet them every day and they are very much like us. They do not seem to need our love and sometimes do not even appear to want it. We know each other well enough to recognize common failings but not well enough to overlook them. It would be easier for us to ignore one another. Unfortunately, those who are our neighbors sometimes have only a casual connection with our life. That fact challenges us to a special and difficult manifestation of love.

At this liturgy, we worship with many whose names we do not know. Most do not need our physical help; nor will they even notice if we do not reach out to them. Most will not care. Yet, the Gospel of the day challenges us to recognize these neighbors and to know them in a deeper way because we share a relationship of faith in the Lord Jesus.

Perhaps today’s children will never know the “neighborhood” relationship in which many of us were nourished. They will not know the comfort of milk and cookies next door or iodine applied by someone else’s mother. These children will meet their neighbor at the altar. Today, we are challenged to make that possible.