Readings: Deuteronomy 30:9–14; Psalm 25; Colossians 1:1–14; Luke 10:25–37

The first reading reminds us of what might be called the inescapable “here-ness,” the direct connection to daily life, of God’s word to Israel: “this commandment … is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away.” Christians recognize the “here-ness” of God’s word as unsurpassed, as consummated, in Jesus, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us — dwelling first with Israel and then, through Jesus’ faithfulness to his Israelite calling, with the church of Jews and Gentiles.

Indeed, we may say — as Paul does in our second reading and often elsewhere in his letters — that Christ, the Word made flesh, is our dwelling: we are to be identified with the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ to which Paul addresses Colossians, and therefore we are to know how the gospel, taking root in the substance of Christ’s body (so to speak), is “bearing fruit and growing in the whole world” and among us too.

At his table, the Lord meets us as the Samaritan foreigner in our Gospel reading met the desperate victim on the road to Jericho: in deep compassion and with limitless generosity; not to berate, to compare, or to compete, but to rescue and to restore to wholeness. Here is how we see what it means to obey that famous double command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Here is how we see the kingdom of God coming to us.