But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion

 

 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 returned from their first apostolic mission 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."  The lawyer quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5, and Leviticus 19:18.  In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus gives these two commandments as the answer to a question from a scribe, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" 

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."   As Jesus begins the parable of the Good Samaritan, my study Bible explains the setting of this road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  Jerusalem, it says, is the place of peace, symbolic of communion with God.  Jericho, on the other hand, was renowned as a place of sin (see Luke 19:1).  To fall among thieves, it says, speaks to the natural consequences of journeying away from God towards a life of sin (see John 10:10).  

"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 that titles and positions are meaningless in God's sight when good deeds do not accompany them.  St. Cyril of Alexandria is quoted, who writes, "The dignity of the priesthood means nothing unless he also excels in deeds."  Moreover, that the priest and the Levite do not help the man  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 foreign, but he is nevertheless an image of Christ (John 8:48).  My study Bible says this is so, because 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 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.' "  The bandages, oil, and wine are sacramental images.  My study Bible explains them as first, images of the garment of baptism, which delivers us from the wound of sin.  Second, the oil of chrismation, which gives us new life in the Holy Spirit.  And finally, the communion of the divine Blood, which leads to eternal life.  His own animal indicates Christ bearing our sins in His own body, and the inn resembles the Church in which Christ's care is received.  Christ pays the price for this care (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). 

"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."  Jesus' advice, of course, is given to all of us.  

The story (or parable) of the Good Samaritan gives us an image not just of our own lives in this world, but, as my study Bible has pointed out, an image of Jesus Christ -- who offers us the baptismal garment, the sacred oil of chrismation, and the church.  Just one aspect of this understanding is the Church as a hospital, a place of healing, a place where our sins may be taken and cared for, their blight on ourselves healed and made well, the healing oil of grace poured upon us to help us to new growth and wholeness, and a place where we are cared for and can rest from the troubles of the world, a space for our deepest needs to be addressed.  But above all this, overarching the story, is the power of mercy, which Christ elucidates as an answer from the lawyer.  And here is where we have the strongest resemblance to Christ and the life He lived.   Jesus asks the lawyer, "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  And the lawyer replies, "He who showed mercy on him." As my study Bible pointed out, it is Christ who first shows mercy to us, making His own absolute sacrifice on the Cross even for those in rebellion against Him.  Christ's taking on the burdens of the evil in the world through His Passion is an act whereby He transfigures affliction, as He is innocent, holy, and most important of all, His human choices are loyalty and love to God the Father.  It is, after all, love through which all of this works.  This is not a harsh command given for payment by a demanding God, but rather a way to undo the sins of the world in One who through His act will stand the sinful world on its head through an act of love.  For the powerful witness of the One who is ultimately holy, innocent, and sinless becomes indictment and judgment against the evil and injustice that afflicts the world.  In the Revelation, Christ is called the "faithful witness" (Revelation 1:5), and the "Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3:14), and of course this is followed by numerous references to the witnesses who will follow in faith.  We will not be able to see this act of love for what it is unless we understand that there is a spiritual court, a spiritual judgment that is at work and will ultimately manifest at the end of the age.  But the truth is that we who are taught to "Go and do likewise" also participate as witnesses in this spiritual court, in the same way that we are taught to follow Christ and take up our own crosses daily (Luke 9:23).  The very word "martyr" means "witness" in Greek, and so we have in the testimony of the ancient Church this understanding built into our faith.  In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul quotes from Proverbs, writing, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head" (see Romans 12:19-20, Proverbs 25:21-22).  Couching it in a quote from Deuteronomy 32:35, "'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord," St. Paul makes clear that this is a teaching about the way of Christ, the power of God that comes through the practice of mercy, and enacted through Christ's Passion, the way of the Cross.  To "go and do likewise," to show mercy, in the eyes of the worldly, may seem a powerless meekness.  But it is akin to Christ's instructions to the Seventy, that they should give a blessing of peace to each house they enter, "and if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you" (Luke 10:6).  But to offer mercy in the name of Christ, as a follower, is to take confidence that this is not simply a good teaching for how to live in the world, but a part of witnessing, something that goes beyond the merely worldly, the things we see only with physical ears and eyes.  This is a teaching for the establishment of a Kingdom, for the age in which sin and righteousness and judgment are all being tested, witnessed to, and made clear (John 16:8-11).   We understand it as a way to follow Him in taking up our cross daily, for in His Passion on the Cross we know the truth that "we love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  Let us go and do likewise, remembering what manner of spirit we are of (Luke 9:55).