The Good Samaritan:
Christians are Called to a Radical Love
Homily by Father Francis Kim
The Church of the Visitation
Los Angeles, CA
July 13, 2025
The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Gospel According to Luke (10:25-37)
Is it ever okay for Catholics to resist the law of the state? Well, we find the answer in today’s gospel where Jesus tells the story of a Jewish man who was half-dead on the street. And walking past him were a Jewish priest and a Levite, Levites were those who assisted priests; these were two highly religious, law-abiding people and yet they refused to help. We’re not exactly sure why they refused to help, but one possible reason is that they simply were following the law of their culture. And in this case that meant it was unlawful for them to touch a half-dead body. It might sound ridiculous to us today, but 2000 years ago that was the law. And 2000 years ago, Jesus commended not the priest or the Levite who were following the law, but Jesus commended the Samaritan who broke the law in order to help the man in need. Therefore, today’s gospel tells us that human laws are meant to be broken if it contradicts the divine law of love, which is to will the good of the other as other.
I wonder then, are there any laws in place today that go against the divine law of love? If so, these are unjust laws that we Catholics are called to resist. As St. Augustine once said, “An unjust law is no law at all.” Or to say it another way, just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s moral. So as Christians, we are called NOT to a blind obedience to this or any other country, but rather, we’re called to a faithful obedience to God who is greater than any country. At the same time, the Church teaches that we are to obey civil laws, UNLESS those laws contradict the higher moral laws of God. Keeping in mind that any law that contradicts love is a law that contradicts God.
This is why Jesus calls out the failure of the Jewish priest and the Levite for following a law that goes against loving their neighbor. Sadly, in the history of the United States, we’ve seen such failures time and time again; laws that go against loving our neighbor. Such failures include the slavery laws, exclusionary immigration laws, women being denied the right to vote, segregation, the prohibition of interracial marriage, Japanese internment, abortion, anti-LGBTQ laws, and etc. Again, I wonder if there might be any laws today where history will judge us as having failed to love our neighbor. To be honest, it’s not easy for a person of my background to stand up here saying these things about this country. I’ve been criticized before for being unpatriotic at best, and at worst, to go back ho
But I point out the failures of our country not because I’m unpatriotic but because I am hopeful we can be better. And I also point them out because Jesus Himself called out the failures of his own society. And yes, I know, Jesus was God and I am not. But even the earliest Christians also challenged their society not to bring it down, but to raise it up…to bring about God’s love for all people. And of course, the price many of them had to pay was the same price Jesus paid on the cross. This reminds me of what Fr. Daniel Berrigan once said, “If you want to follow Jesus you better develop a taste for wood.” To be a follower of Jesus, an authentic follower of Jesus, has never been easy, and it’s still not easy. It requires a love so radical that it’ll often offend and disrupt the status quo. But if we claim to be Christians we are called to such radical love–to love and stand up for the marginalized because Jesus loved and stood up for the marginalized. And if we too end up on the cross, well, at least we’re in good company.
Father Francis Kim is a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For the past year he has served as Administrator of the Church of the Visitation in Westchester, CA (Los Angeles). He has recently been appointed to serve in the Spiritual Formation program at St. John Seminary, Camarillo, Ca, Archdiocese of Los Angeles.