The Parable of the Good Samaritan

 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  He said to him, "What is written in the law?  What is your reading of it?"  So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "  And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." 

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  Then Jesus answered and said:  "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.  And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

- Luke 10:25-37

Yesterday, we read that the seventy apostles returned with joy from their first mission.  They told Jesus, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."  Jesus told them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.   Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."   In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  He said to His disciples, ""Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it."

  And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  He said to him, "What is written in the law?  What is your reading of it?"  So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "  And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."   My study bible calls the lawyer's question about inheriting eternal life "a momentous question for every person.  The answer of Jesus is to love God above all else, and to love one's neighbor."  The two commandments of the law cited by the lawyer, and approved by Jesus, form what Jesus calls elsewhere "the greatest commandments" and "the whole of the Law and the Prophets."   We get a sense of the order of these commandments as well.

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  The lawyers goes further in his questioning, and it is an essential question.  Luke tells us the man, however, wanted to justify himself.  But a question opens the door, and Jesus gives His own answer.

Then Jesus answered and said:  "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.  And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  Those who should be examples are the ones who pass by.  A Levite is an official helper in the temple.  There are possible inferences here; some suggest it's possible they're avoiding defilement with a dead body.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."  We have to understand about the terrible enmity between Samaritans and Jews at this time to get a sense of the parable;  Jesus' telling of this parable obliterates "normal" considerations of what a neighbor might be.  The Samaritans, for example, while embracing various aspects of Jewish faith, disagreed on the location of the temple (see the story of the Samaritan woman, as told in John's Gospel).  Most of the time, those whom we consider our "neighbor" might be someone whose relationship with us is something we're given:  they live next door, they belong to our church, our group, an extended social organization of some type, someone who is literally nearby (in the Greek).  But here, what makes a neighbor in Jesus' story is something quite different, and the lawyer replies, grasping the condition:  "He who showed mercy on him."  That is, "neighbor" is made by initiative and action, and the lawyer is told to "go and do likewise."

My study bible points out several things I think we should know about this parable.  First of all, it's found only in Luke.  It says that the Parable of the Good Samaritan "illustrates Jesus' teaching of who our neighbor is:  anyone in immediate need, even a supposed enemy.  Symbolically, the Good Samaritan is Christ Himself, the wounded man is humanity set upon by demons, and the inn is the Church.  Love for neighbor proves our love for God."  It adds that the Samaritan, "a presumed enemy of Jews, is highlighted as the good neighbor because of his loving actions toward the wounded Jew ignored by fellow Jews."  In the language of the Gospel, the original Greek, it's important that we pay attention:  the word for "mercy" is eleos -- as it remains in liturgical worship, the basis for the phrase Kyrie eleison ("Lord have mercy").  But eleos is alike in sound to the word for olive oil, the basis for all healing balm in the ancient world (as readers of this blog have often been told).  We note that the Samaritan bound up the hurt man's wounds with oil and wine -- yes, it's the same root, for olive oil.  Hence, the oil of anointing becomes an oil of healing in allegories in the Church and of Christ Himself.  So, one conclusion is to ask ourselves, how do we become Christ-like?  Jesus has many parables and sayings in which He teaches us to take the initiative.  In Matthew 5:41, for example, a part of the Sermon on the Mount, He teaches that if someone compels or forces you to go with him one mile (often considered to be a reference to a Roman soldier), go two.  Going two is a kind of initiative, something not compelled and not forced.  So today as I read this parable, I'm struck by the personal initiative that is asked of us in becoming Christ's disciples, becoming like Christ.  In our practice of neighborliness, we are asked to take the initiative -- first with the great commandment of love for God in our hearts (because why else do we wish to become Christ-like except out of our love for Him?), and because we are also asked to bear that kingdom into the world.  I don't think God requires of us to take any foolish leaps purely of good intention, without being discerning. (He's told His disciples to be wise as serpents and gentle and doves, that they are sent out as lambs among wolves.)  But we are asked here to learn God's love for ourselves and to practice it.  To take the initiative.  Paralleling this story as allegory of Christ's saving mercy for the world afflicted and oppressed by the demonic, by evil and suffering (and we remember that the Seventy have just returned rejoicing at their power over even the demons as they announce that the Kingdom has come near), we will see all around us the effects of evil upon others.  Innocents suffer for things they aren't responsible for.  One way to bear the Kingdom into the world is to help others afflicted by sin that's not their own.  And I think that for me today, this is the great message of the parable.  We can look all around us and see people who suffer because sin or evil doesn't just affect one person, but rather its effects are borne as a burden in the world by the innocent who aren't responsible for it.  An analogy to Original Sin has often been given in an example of a murder committed by a father:  his children aren't responsible and don't bear the sin, but they do bear the effects of the sin in their lives.  A bad act isn't done in isolation, but affects others, and can do so for many generations, throughout a community of any kind.  As in the example of the Good Samaritan, innocents suffer all the time for sins committed against them.  It's not enough to avoid sin as in the example; but rather we seek to address its effects in our world.  Therefore as bearers of His faith, we are to address this suffering; we bring the Kingdom into the world through our own acts of kindness and compassion, our creation of "neighbors."  Let us remember that we love God first with all our heart and soul and strength and mind, and that this is an ongoing internal dialogue and learning, so that we may in turn learn really what love is to express to others, and to grow in that understanding!  In love and mercy, the Kingdom may be at work in us and among us.