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

 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 our 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, after being sent out on their first mission, the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."  And He said to 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."  Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "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."  But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  A lawyer is an expert in the Mosaic Law and the traditional practices built up around it, likely a scribe, but here in this passage the emphasis on an understanding of the religious law is important.  Jesus, as He so often does, turns the question back on the one who asks.  The lawyer gives the same answer Jesus Himself gives elsewhere (see Matthew 22:37-40), quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.  The lawyer then takes his turn to ask Christ yet again another question -- and this one goes to the heart of the matter.  How does one interpret neighbor?  Perhaps, in seeking to justify himself, the lawyer is considering what that truly means for himself, and this is an honest question, for Christ gives him an honest answer designed to help him think about the question.  The parable of the Good Samaritan that follows, we should note, is found only in Luke.

"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."  Throughout the history of the Church, the patristic writers have viewed this parable as allegorical to the Church itself.  Jerusalem is understood as a place of peace, which is symbolic of communion with God.  But Jericho, by contrast, was renowned as a place of sin (see 19:1).   To fall among thieves, my study bible says, speaks to the natural consequence of journeying away from God toward a life of sin (see John 10:10).  In a certain sense, this journey is through a "valley of the shadow of death," as Psalm 23 reads.  Jericho, therefore, as understood by St. Ambrose of Milan, is an image of the world through which we all pass.

"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."  My study bible comments here that titles and positions are meaningless in the sight of God when good deeds don't accompany them.  Cyril of Alexandria writes, "The dignity of the priesthood means nothing unless he also excels in deeds."  That the priest and the Levite do not help the man also indicates the failure of the Old Testament Law to heal the consequences of sin. 

"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion."  The Samaritan is a despised foreigner from a region between Judea and Galilee, whose doctrines and beliefs retain many of the same bases of the faith of the Jews, but differ in certain points of contention.   He is an image of Christ (John 8:48), as He "came down from heaven" (Creed) to save even those in rebellion against Him.

"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 our 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.'"   Bandages, oil, and wine are sacramental images, my study bible comments.  Bandages give us the image of the garment of baptism, which delivers us from the wounds of sin.  The oil of chrismation gives us new life in the Holy Spirit.  The communion of divine blood, as figured in the wine, leads to eternal life, the basis of the lawyer's question in the first place.  That the Samaritan set him on his own animal, it says, indicates Christ bearing our sins in His own body.  The inn reveals the Church in which Christ's care is received.  Jesus pays the price for that care (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).   When Christ comes again, at the judgment of the righteous, those who practice mercy and compassion ("take care") will be repaid.

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."  Christ's words are for all of us, but in particular those in the Church who seek to be His followers.

If we read the complete law which teaches to love one's neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18), it begins with the admonition, "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people . . .."  The emphasis here is on refraining from vengeance, and from a cherished anger or hatred, enmity.   Certainly between the Samaritans and the Jews such enmity existed, and so the image of the Samaritan is important to the story.   It is the Samaritan who, through his actions and choices, redeems relationship, and chooses to be neighbor by showing mercy on the one hurt by the thieves.  If we view this parable as it has been historically seen by Church Fathers, especially in the early centuries of the Church, we see the redemption of Christ's mercy at work, which seeks to teach that all are neighbors of one another, but that this can only exist through faith in the work of Christ and the redemptive power of the gospel and the gifts given to us for unity in the love of God, such as baptism, the Eucharist, the gift of the Holy Spirit -- all of which enable and activate the practice of mercy as spiritual good and healing property.  These elements do not merely address the external, but rather the internal wounds of sin that separates us from God and one another -- and in particular the environment of a world permeated with error, hostility, enmity, and misleading teachings that harm rather than doing good (John 16:2).  Here we are, in this world, this "valley of the shadow of death," that seems to be, quite often, the same as it ever was.  In a modern point of view, we may take scientific, legal, and other forms of advances as proof that our world is simply not the same as it was, and so these advances -- when they do indeed come in the form of compassion, care, and mercy -- do form a kind of help for us all, an improvement in the lot of the world.  But healing is more than physical, and this is a parable meant to teach about the gift of eternal life, the life of the soul.  And in this context, we need to look again at what Jesus teaches.  In the care of the soul, there is no separation between what we do and who we are.  For the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8) there is no difference between the inside of the cup and the outside (Matthew 23:26).  It is this practice of mercy, in which we rely on God to teach us its depth of practice and to transfigure us into the image that Christ has of us, in which the world is transformed from stranger to neighbor.  For this practice deep in the soul, these things begin in the heart, with what we nourish and what we cherish as our greatest treasure and blessing, and that is where "neighbor" begins.  This is not merely a story about outward acts, nor is it a teaching only about a conviction or principle.  It is, rather, a story about active faith -- about how the choices we make will reflect the love of God (Who is love) which we actively cultivate and cherish within ourselves, especially through the methods and practices offered to us to participate in this Kingdom and the love of Christ.  The fullness of belonging to this Samaritan who takes on the burden of care for a hurting world is the fullness of life everlasting for each of us.  Christ teaches us not merely about outward acts, but also about the depths of love that can be at work in us, that there is no real measure of how deeply we can proceed and participate in this love, even as we walk through this valley of the shadow of death, so long as the Lord our Shepherd is with us, as the Psalm teaches.  Jesus, through this parable, gives us an image of the world.  Our lives, and all the circumstances through which we pass, may not be perfect.  We may be beset by the thieves who would steal away and destroy this love that means peace in the perfect heavenly Jerusalem, the place of our root and origin.  But we each have the chance to participate actively in God's compassion through the gifts we're given via Christ's Incarnation.  The gift is before us, even as Jesus travels to Jerusalem and His own hour of glory, to the Cross and to Resurrection.  Let us consider that transforming work in our own lives today.   Let us also consider the times in which we may find ourselves "wounded" and left "half dead," perhaps literally, but quite often figuratively.  It is for those times that we call on the Lord and His way of compassion and the cross, to see us through with the care we need, to get us to the place we need to be.