On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets

 

 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. 

 

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 22:23-40 

 

In our present readings, the setting is Holy Week.  Jesus has entered the Holy City in His Triumphal Entry, He has cleansed the temple, and He has been challenged by the religious leaders, with whom He continues in debate.  Yesterday we read that, after He told the parable of the Wedding Feast against them, the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

 

 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  The Sadducees were a class among the ruling Council composed of those with inherited positions, and formed a type of aristocratic landowning class in and around Jerusalem.  In contrast to the Pharisees, they held only the Pentateuch or Torah as their Scriptures (the first five books of the Holy Bible), and they did not believe in the resurrection or the existence of angels.  So they ask Christ a question which mocks the resurrection with a scenario depicting the continuation of earthly life.  But Jesus here confirms that there will be a resurrection, but these men fail to understand the life of the resurrection.  He tells them, "You are mistaken" for they do not understand, "not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God."  My study Bible explains that the Scriptures reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, which makes such earthly questions irrelevant.  Moreover, they fail to understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.  It is the clear teaching of Christ, my study Bible notes, that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.

 

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher. which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  My study Bible teaches us that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and they debated constantly about which one was central.  So this question to Jesus is very pertinent to their practices and ways of thinking.  Jesus declares the first and second commandments here, meaning not simply a kind of order in which commandments were given, but rather a ranking in terms of the centrality and power of the commandments themselves and our lives as those who seek to live a life pleasing to God.  These two commandments constitute the grand summary of the Law, and the Prophets as well, as Jesus comments.  The first is the foundation of all, the second is essential.  Although this lawyer (that is, an expert in the law) came with malice to test the Lord, my study Bible says, we know from St. Mark's account that this man is converted by Christ's answer, responding, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Jesus then replied to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." See Mark 12:28-34.

 

 In yesterday's reading and commentary, we expanded on our understanding of Christ as Sovereign, and the Cross as His sign of victory, a "flag," if you will, planted in this world through His Passion, declaring His Kingship as Messiah or Christ.  If we consider the whole of the Incarnation and what it means that He is Deliverer and Savior, we must come to understand the claims of spiritual victory over that which opposes God and seeks to prevent the salvation of the world.  So, in that light, let us examine a little more closely Jesus' ranking of the commandments in answer to the question, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"   The great central question of debate around Jesus has been the question of His authority.  He teaches and speaks with authority, "and not as the scribes" (Matthew 7:29).  So, from the first, He has distinguished Himself in this sense.  The multitudes, the people, have clearly responded to Christ's ministry and gospel message, as evidenced in the Triumphal Entry.  Moreover, the desire of the religious leaders to seize Him has been thwarted by their fear of the people, who believe Him to be a prophet (Matthew 21:46).  Jesus has no "earthly" position in the temple; He is not a Levitical priest, and yet He acts with authority to cleanse the temple.  And clearly, in His dialogue and disagreements with the religious leaders, He speaks as One with authority to them, even in judgment of them.  This will be truly evident in the following chapter.  So we have to ask ourselves in this context, "What does sovereignty mean?  What is Jesus' authority truly like? How does it show itself?"  This question in today's reading, posed by the lawyer, touches on the authority and weight of commandments.  Jesus' answer sets down that which is not simply an opinion of a good Teacher, but One who speaks with the authority as Author and Giver of the Law, the Word (or Logos; see John 1:1).  In giving us the true weight or value of the commandments, ranking one as the greatest, and the other as essential to the first and greatest, Jesus sets out the rule of His sovereignty, of His authority and claim in our world.  So we are to take His words for ourselves.  As Christians and followers of Christ, we might wonder at just what this sovereignty means.  His words are authoritative, so why does the world not follow them?  Moreover, we may look around ourselves and see His words regarding true righteousness as constantly violated or disobeyed.  How does this happen under Christ if He is sovereign Lord in our world?  This is an important question, because what it asks us to do is to define what sovereignty is and does.  Does Christ's sovereignty indicate the difference between a dictator and a benevolent king?  Does sovereignty mean harsh rule?  Or does it indicate a righteousness that also allows for freedom -- even for God's own creatures?  Certainly we understand that God's creatures are made with wills of their own, including the angels (and those who have rebelled against Christ's sovereignty).  So this is the first thing we need to consider.  We know that there will come a time of fullness of this age, when Christ will judge.  But until that time, we understand God as righteous, full of mercy, giving time and room for repentance, and respecting the free will God has given to God's creatures.  We might not have the full picture of how and why salvation works, and the grand fullness of all of creation and where we are headed, but we can understand the righteousness of God from what we know, and especially from the teachings and ministry of Jesus Christ (John 14:9).  In St. Luke's 18th chapter, Jesus teaches to His disciples the parable of the Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8), giving an example of a kind of ruler or sovereign (one with authority) who is not righteous, who cares nothing for righteousness and mercy.  But even the unjust judge will tire of hearing requests for a fair hearing and verdict, and so will respond to such pleas as are in our prayers.  When He completes the parable, Jesus says, "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."  But He finishes with this wistful-seeming question, "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"  So we must take from this question an important understanding of our Lord's sovereignty, how it works and what it is, and -- perhaps more pertinently -- how God rules.  God has created us with independent wills and a certain level of freedom.  More relevant to the question, what does this say about our capacity for faith and loyalty to God?  God's purposes are clearly served through endowing God's creation with freedom, so that each of us is free to choose -- or, perhaps more accurately, to find within  ourselves our capacity for faith and understanding, for the apprehension of the things of God.  Jesus -- and the prophets sent before His human life in this world -- repeatedly calls this power to apprehend and have faith "eyes to see and ears to hear."  He clearly articulates this in explaining the parable of the Sower (and His reason for teaching in parables) to the disciples in Matthew 13:10-17.  He refers to this as the capacity for knowing the mysteries of the Kingdom.  So, in our understanding of sovereignty, we must at the same time move from the concept of Christ's authority, such as His declaration of the two greatest commandments to us, to God's righteousness, the freedom with which He rules and creates.  He asks us to follow from love, not dictatorship.  And therein lies the difference in our understanding of authority and sovereignty.  For the flag of victory -- the Cross -- is also the flag of love and mercy ("Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" - John 15:13).   In God's righteousness is our deliverance and salvation.  Christ's authority is the authority of love of us all.  Are we capable of returning that love and loyalty and faith?  It is right and fitting, then, that the two greatest commandments named by our Sovereign are the commandments whose substance is love.

 

 

 

On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets

 

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

 

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"   And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him any more.  

 

- Matthew 22:34–46 

 

Yesterday we read that, on the same day that the Pharisees sought to trap Jesus with a question about paying Roman taxes, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

 

  But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  My study Bible comments that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and they debated constantly about which one was central.  Here Jesus sets forth the first and the second, which together constitute a grand summary of the Law.  Although this lawyer has come with malice to test Jesus, we know from St. Mark's account of this story that he is converted by Christ's answers (Mark 12:28-34).  My study Bible expands further on the second commandment given by Jesus that it must be understood as it is written; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  More clearly stated, it would read, "as being yourself."  It's often misunderstood to mean "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," which effectively destroys the force of the statement.  How much we love ourselves isn't the standard by which Christ calls us to love others.  My study Bible says that we are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we ourselves are, as being created in God's image and likeness just as we are.  As the Church Fathers teach, we find our true self in loving our neighbor.  In St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus offers these two commandments to a lawyer who asks Him about attaining eternal life.  The law then follows up with a question, "And who is my neighbor?" to which Jesus replies by telling the story of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25-37).

 

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"   And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him any more.   My study Bible notes here that Christ asks this question in order to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God Incarnate.  They supposed the Messiah to be a mere man, and so they reply that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address anyone as "lord" except God.  But in Psalm 110:1, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  Therefore, the Messiah must be God.  The only possible conclusion is therefore that He is a descendant of David only according to the flesh -- but is also divine, sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  My study Bible adds that the Pharisees are unable to answer any further because they realize the implications, and they fear to confess Jesus to be the son of God.  In the psalm verse quoted by Jesus, the answer is that the first reference to the LORD applies to God the Father, while the term my Lord refers to Christ.  

 

 The commentary on today's reading found in my study Bible invites us to think more deeply about Christ's second commandment listed here.  That is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  The two commandments which Jesus cites here, putting them together as that upon which hang the whole of the Law and the Prophets (that is, the Scriptures known to the Jews at that time), are Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18.  Let us remember that the one who questions Christ here is called a lawyer in the text; that is, he is an expert in the Law, in the commandments of the Scriptures.   The full verse of Leviticus reads as follows:  "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."  So, it seems important to note in this context that the first part of this instruction is a command to refrain from vengeance against "the children of your people."  Its thrust and purpose seems clear; that is, it is meant as a command to refrain from dissension and violence within the community.  We know this is a central problem in the Old Testament, the world having descended from the first sin mentioned in Genesis to the evil of Lamech, who bragged to his two wives in a song as follows:  "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me.  If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold" (Genesis 4:23-24).  Of such importance was this growing cycle of vengeance that in the time of Lamech's son, Noah, God would decide to flood the world and start over, preserving the lineage of one "who found grace in the eyes of the Lord" and who was "a just man" "who walked with God" (see Genesis 6:5-13).  God's entire emphasis after that, in creating a people via Abraham's faith (accounted to him as righteousness), who would be led by Moses and through him given the Law, was to create a community in the image God desired.  So, there we come to the prohibition against vengeance and its terrible effects upon community. To love neighbor as oneself, as my study Bible explains, is to know others as "the children of your people;" that is, as one like yourself.  It's most important, in considering today's reading and this commandment, that we consider the story of the Good Samaritan as Christ's response to the question, "And who is my neighbor?"  The lawyer's answer in that passage is that "the one who showed mercy" was neighbor to the other, and Jesus' command follows:  "Go and do likewise."  If we look carefully at that story of the Good Samaritan, we may conclude that this command to show mercy is one in which we are willing to take the first step, the initiative, in being a neighbor.  The first commandment given here teaches us not just to follow or even to have faith and believe, but to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  This establishes the most basic relationship that defines who we are, for in loving God in such a complete way, we wholeheartedly love Love itself (1 John 4:8), and through a depth of drawing toward union with God, we learn love from God.  Let us endeavor, wherever we are, to create the community that God wants from us, learning to follow these commandments, and to be the kind of neighbor God wants us to become.

 

 

 

 

 

And who is my neighbor?

 

 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 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?"  Here, Jesus gives two commandments in the Law, in response to the question from this lawyer, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  Jesus invites the lawyer to respond as to how he would answer according to what is written in the law.  The lawyer quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18; to which Jesus replies that he has answered rightly.  (Elsewhere, Jesus quotes these two Scripture passages and ties them together Himself when He's quizzed as to which is the greatest commandment in the Law; see Matthew 22:36-40.)  But, the text tells us, the lawyer wanted to justify himself, and so asks another question, "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."  My study Bible tells us that Jerusalem is the place of peace, symbolic of communion with God.  Jericho, by contrast, was known as a place of sin (see Luke 19:1).  To fall among thieves speaks to the natural consequence of journeying away from God toward 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 notes here that titles and positions are meaningless in the sight of God when good deeds do not accompany them.  It quotes from the commentary of St. Cyril of Alexandria:  "The dignity of the priesthood means nothing unless he also excels in deeds."  That it is a priest and a Levite who do not help the man is also an indication of 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, but He is an image of Christ (John 8:48), as He "came down from heaven" (Creed) in order to save even those in rebellion against Him.

"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."   My study Bible explains that the bandages, oil, and wine are sacramental images for first, the garment of baptism, which delivers us from the wounds 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.  That the Samaritan used his own animal to bear the injured man is an indication of Christ bearing our sins in His own body; the inn reveals the Church in which the care of Christ is received.  He pays the price for that care (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).  

The parable of the Good Samaritan is a parable only found in Luke's Gospel.  What we first might notice about it is the grace of Jesus in responding to the lawyer who quizzes Him.  Jesus first asks the lawyer what his own reading of the Law is.  Then when the lawyer answers rightly, Jesus tells him so; to follow these two "greatest commandments" is to find eternal life:  "Do this and you will live," Jesus says.  So there is, first of all, great grace at work in Christ's response, and even toward the Law and the rewards it one may truly follow these commandments.   Keep in mind He speaks to a lawyer (likely a scribe) and their allies, the Pharisees, like Jesus, did believe in resurrection.  Jesus uses what we might call a Socratic method in His dialogue; He asks the lawyer questions designed to lead to the correct answer.  But then the lawyer wants to take this another step further, and he asks a provocative question himself, "And who is my neighbor?" referring to the second commandment quoted, to love one's neighbor as oneself.  In response to this question, Jesus tells the parable.  Jesus' method is still one that is very gracious, for He also ends with a question to the lawyer, effectively making His point:  "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  The lawyer's only option is to state the obvious; the one who "was neighbor" to the man attacked by thieves was the Samaritan.  In the telling of this story, Jesus illuminates the limitations of the Law, for perhaps the priest and the Levite are strictly observing other rules here, regarding coming into contact with blood, or the body of one who might be dead.  It reminds us of Jesus' repeated complaints against the legalism of the Pharisees, that they paid more attention to the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.  In Matthew chapter 23, in His great critique of the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus will say, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone" (Matthew 23:23).  It is explicitly made clear that the only true "neighbor" in the story is the Samaritan, because he is the one who showed mercy.  So grace and gracious behavior become lauded all around, both in the behavior of Jesus and in the behavior of the Samaritan, who is a neighbor precisely because he showed mercy on the injured man.  Jesus further shows that in the faith He brings into the world, there are no limits on who a neighbor might be in terms of sect or group; indeed, to be a neighbor is to act as one, and here Jesus places all the definition of the term on the initiative and act of one who shows mercy.  Another aspect of this parable is illuminated in patristic commentary regarding the "going down to Jericho" of the injured man.  This is seen by some as parallel to Adam who sinned and so was cast down out of Paradise.  St. Ambrose writes of this that it was Adam's "change not of place but of conduct made the exile of his nature."  From eternal blessedness, Adam fell among the thieves, so to speak, the influences of the evil one who attacks and torments one stripped of spiritual grace.  So we may see this as our world, in which we need the spiritual care of Christ to tend to our own wounds and healing, and the protective garments of grace.  Christ's emphasis on being a neighbor in the same way He became neighbor to us in the Incarnation is the way to truly fulfill the life-saving command, and return to true life in Paradise.  Over and over throughout the Gospels, Jesus emphasizes that to receive mercy one must practice mercy.  In the Sermon on the Mount, He says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7).  Psalm 18:25 addresses the Lord this way:  "With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless."  St. James writes, "For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).  Let us live the commandment as He teaches us, and so find our way to the life He offers.

 

 

 

 

You shall love your neighbor as yourself

 

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.   Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

    'The LORD said to my Lord,

    "Sit at My right hand,

    Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

 

- Matthew 22:34–46 

 

In our current reading, Jesus is in the temple in Jerusalem.  It is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life, and Jesus has been disputing with the religious leaders.  Yesterday we read that the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they nether marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. 

 

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.   Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."   My study Bible comments here that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures.  They debated about which one was central, so they are inviting Christ to provide His answer here.  Jesus provides the first and second commandments, which constitute a grand summary of the Law.  My study Bible suggests that although the lawyer came with malice to test Him, we know from St. Mark's gospel that this man is converted by Jesus' answer (Mark 12:28-34).  Moreover, my study Bible explains also that the second commandment given here by Jesus needs to be understood as it is written:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself, or perhaps more clearly, "as being yourself."  It notes that this commandment is frequently misinterpreted to read, "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," which doesn't match the true force of the statement.  We are not called to the standard of how we love ourselves as the way we must love others.  We are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we ourselves are, my study Bible teaches, as being created in God's image and likeness just as we are.  In patristic teaching, we're taught that we find our true self in loving our neighbor.  

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  My study Bible notes that Jesus asks this question in order to lead the Pharisees to the single logical conclusion; in effect, that He is God incarnate.  The expectation of the Pharisees is that the Messiah would be a mere human being, and so they reply that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as the king of Israel, could never, and would never address anyone using the title "Lord" except God.   But nonetheless, in Psalm 110:1, David addresses the Messiah as "Lord," indicating that the Messiah must be God.  The only possible conclusion, my study Bible comments, is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but is also truly divine -- sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Consequently the Pharisees cannot answer.  They recognize the implications and they are afraid to confess Jesus to be the Son of God. 

 

 Perhaps today is a good occasion to consider this second great commandment that Jesus gives.  It is ancillary but essential to the first.  The first, we recall, is "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  The second is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."   (These are from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.)  My study Bible goes to great pains to explain that this does not mean one must love one's neighbor as much as or in the same way one loves oneself.  (So often we are quite imperfect in the ways we love ourselves!)  But rather, my study Bible explains, we are to love our neighbor as if they are made of the same stuff that we are, of the same nature, created by God in the image and likeness of God.   So often our popular or modern notions of what constitutes "love" seem to evolve to include things that were not necessarily there in the Scripture for its intended hearers.  We have private notions of love that depend closely on what we feel belongs to us, or what we would long for in a mate or a friend or even a child.  But the kind of love that Christ always speaks about is a love that involves definite and particular actions that express compassion.  When this same passage is found in St. Luke's gospel, it is embellished and illustrated with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).  The Samaritan in the story is a model of what it means to love a neighbor "as oneself," even if he's a Samaritan and the victim of robbers whom he helps and cares for is a Jew.  To love in that case was to act as a neighbor, to be a neighbor by doing what is needful and thereby expressing compassion.  When the people who've come out to see Jesus have been with Him into evening and have nothing to eat, He commands the disciples to feed them, and completes this act of compassion (extended from His first impulse to heal and teach); see Matthew 14:13-21.  He illustrates compassion when He speaks of Judgment, in His role as the true Shepherd who separates the sheep and the goats.  He tells those on His right hand, the favored ones, "I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."  (See Matthew 25:31-46.)  These are all illustrations of acts of compassion, and let us keep in mind that it is not simply the specific action that we must fulfill by rote as if we are crossing items off a list to be within the rules of the law.  These are actions that are moved from the heart, from the inner life of a person, the soul.  They are ways in which we love others as if we recognize the same needs, the same substance as ourselves, in them.  They are not abstract, but rather couched within the substance of the first great commandment, a love of God with all one's heart, soul, and mind.   So often we find it is difficult to love people in the sense that we approve or love all the things they believe or do.  But we can nevertheless love by recognizing need and seeking to help fill that need, by having compassion and recognizing in the fulfillment of that need that they are of the same nature that we are, even when quite different in other ways.  There are all kinds of people we wouldn't necessarily want to live with or be with all the time, but we can still recognize the needs we would have in their place, and seek to help.  An act of compassion does not have to be purely material, either.  Sometimes people just need someone to smile at them, or to express a compassion through care in other ways, even simply to be acknowledged with a gaze.  There are myriad ways to express compassion.   It's not a competitive contest to see who can give the most, it's not checking off the box of counting up our good deeds, it's not about our image in the eyes of others.  None of that enters into what Jesus is telling us.  In fact, our act of compassion may quite often be something embarrassing to us, even frowned upon, such as befriending an unpopular person who's not of our nominal group.  Our Lord Himself set this example when He became sin and scandal out of love for us, put to death on the Cross.  Let us consider the meaning of Christ's love, as illustrated by His life and His work among us, and find the simple ways we can live it.

 

And who is my neighbor?

 

 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."  But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  It's quite interesting that this passage comes directly after the return of the Seventy, and particularly directly after Jesus praised God the Father because wisdom has been revealed to "babes," while "prophets and kings" had desired to see and hear what they have seen and heard, and did not (see above, the final verse in yesterday's reading).  Here, immediately following that pronouncement by Jesus, a lawyer -- that is, one who is expert in the Mosaic Law -- stood up and tested Jesus.  Jesus replies with a question of the expert, and invites him to answer his own question.  Hearing the response, Jesus approves; he has answered correctly, coupling two commandments together.  The first is what is known as the Shema (after the first word in Deuteronomy 6:4), the great confession of faith of the Jews.  The actual command the lawyer quotes is Deuteronomy 6:5 (see Deuteronomy 6:4-5).  We can read the second command in Leviticus 19:18.  These commands, coupled together, are also given by Jesus in Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-34.  But here in Luke, there is a unique twist, as the lawyer asks another question:  "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."  Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan, found exclusively in the Gospel of Luke.  Here the setting is the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  My study Bible explains that Jerusalem is the place of peace, symbolic of communion with God.  Jericho, on the contrary, was renowned as a place of sin (see Luke 19:1).  To fall among thieves, my study Bible explains, speaks to the natural consequence of journeying away from God toward 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. It quotes St. Cyril of Alexandria:  "The dignity of the priesthood means nothing unless he also excels in deeds."  That the priest and the Levite do not help the man is also an indication of 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."  My study Bible notes that this Samaritan is a despised foreigner for the Jews, but he is an image of Christ (John 8:48), for Christ "came down from heaven" (Creed) to save even those who were in rebellion against Him. 

 

"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."  My study Bible suggests that the bandages, oil, and wine are sacramental images.  The bandages suggest the garment of baptism, which delivers us from the wounds of sin.  The oil reminds us of the oil of chrismation, which gives us new life in the Holy Spirit.  The wine gives us an image of the communion of the divine Blood, which leads to eternal life.  His own animal, my study Bible adds, indicates Christ bearing our sins in His own body, and the inn reveals the Church in which Christ's care is received.  He pays the price for that care (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).   

At the conclusion of today's reading, Jesus asks the lawyer, "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  The lawyer replies, "He who showed mercy on him."  So Jesus teaches, "Go and do likewise."  If we consider my study Bible's note that to bear the man upon his own animal reminds us of Christ, who bears our sins in His own body, with the inn as a stand-in for the Church, then what we must see in this teaching is one in which we are taught to be "like God" (or like Christ) by being a true neighbor, by showing mercy, by having compassion.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).  To be a true neighbor is to be "like God," like Christ.  In this sense, it is an image of perfection drawn from daily life, from the possibilities we as human beings can embody in life.  It's also significant that the inn symbolizes the Church, because it is the place where Christ's care is received.  The Church in its history has frequently been likened to a hospital, for it is where we are to receive care for our wounds and illnesses.  In this context, sin is also seen as a type of illness, a way of being "less than" the perfection Christ describes in the Sermon on the Mount, when we're asked to be "perfect, like your Father in heaven is perfect."  If we see ourselves as in need of care and healing, we might come to terms with our own shortcomings in a much better sense than one in which shame keeps us from coming forward to acknowledge what needs repair and change in us.  Repentance, in this perspective, becomes a kind of medicine, a surgery, a way to begin to address a problem and acknowledge it.  It is said that the only unforgivable sin is one not repented; therefore this medicine for our imperfections and ailments is powerful indeed!  But everything begins with the quality of mercy, and the compassion exemplified in the Good Samaritan.  This is what makes him a neighbor.  Jesus commands the lawyer, "Go and do likewise."  So, we must conclude, are we commanded to act as neighbors.  For this is God's way, the quality Christ asks of us over and over again, and which we will answer for (Matthew 24:31-46).

 

 

 

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).

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.

Go and do likewise

 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 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."  Importantly, these are the two commandments named as the "greatest commandments" by Christ when asked (Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-34).

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."  My study bible says that Jerusalem is the place of peace, symbolic of communion with God.  On the other hand, it notes, Jericho was renowned as a place of sin (see 19:1).  To fall among thieves, it adds, speaks to the natural consequence of journeying away from God toward a life of sin (see John 10:10).  So often our indulgence in what we know to be wrong leads us to cheat ourselves.

"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."  Some have commented that these prominent religious figures in the story are following prohibitions on the touching of bodies or blood.  My study bible comments that titles and positions are meaningless in God's sight when good deeds do not accompany them.  It quotes Cyril of Alexandria:  "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, an outsider, a stranger.  As one with compassion, he is also an image of Christ.  My study bible cites John 8:48, commenting that this figure is like Christ who "came down from heaven" (Creed) to save even those in rebellion against Him. 

"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.'"  There are sacramental images contained here, which my study bible gives in the following explanations.  In the bandages, there is an image of the baptism garment, which gives us remission from the wounds of sin.  The oil of chrismation gives us new life in the Holy Spirit.  Wine symbolizes Christ's divine Blood which leads to eternal life.  That the Samaritan put the wounded man on his own animal suggests Christ bearing our sins in His own body.  The inn is like the Church, often likened to a hospital, in which Christ's care is received.  Christ pays the price of that 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."  Here is an absolute crux of Christ's teachings to us:  that it is we who must take the initiative to follow His commands, to go and do likewise. 

The parable of the Good Samaritan appears only in Luke's Gospel.  It is the beautiful illustration of the commandments cited here by the lawyer, upon which Christ has said "hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:40).  But here in the illustration of the parable, Jesus takes the Law and the Prophets further, to mercy.  In the ancient world, the base of all healing balms (and the costly perfumes we read about in the Gospels) was olive oil.  This is no doubt the base for the oil used as healing unguent by the Samaritan in the story.  In Greek, this word is ἔλαιον/elaion.  The word for mercy is ἔλεος/eleos.  In Greek, with the exception of the final letter (which indicates gender or neutral object), these words for "olive oil" and "mercy" sound exactly alike.  In the oil of chrismation, symbolizing the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, we have the perfect symbol for mercy or grace -- and so we have the unmistakable parallel given to us in this parable in Luke.  So what does it mean that Christ calls us to "go and do likewise"?  He is teaching us to take the initiative to follow His commands, to be a neighbor.  It's quite similar to His instructions in the Sermon on the Mount (and in Luke, in the Sermon on the Plain; see this reading).  When Jesus preaches that we should "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you," what is this but a call to initiative?  He gives us dramatic statements to indicate that we must not simply follow the crowd, but rather follow the commandment for loyalty to God first, and the expression of that love extended to others.  In the story of the Good Samaritan, the very notion of "neighbor" becomes something Jesus says is something we are capable of initiating ourselves through our loyalty and love of God.  Like so many of His complaints against the religious leadership, the story also speaks against religious prohibitions that exclude the practice of mercy, such as when He asked certain scribes and Pharisees, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"   Let us note here that, similarly to that incident, Jesus speaks to a lawyer who knows full well the Law, and obviously takes its practice seriously.  If we are going to follow Christ regarding His urging us to the practice of mercy, how will we take an initiative where circumstances or surroundings do not lend themselves to such practice as common?  Where do we begin, and how do we begin?  What is grace, but an extension of a kind of hospitality?  Let us note more meanings hidden in the text here, as even our English word "hospital" is evolved from the Latin word for inn -- hospitale.   Christ seems to be asking us to allow our love for God to draw us out of the crowds, from being mere followers, and to create a kind of leadership among His followers which is based on the initiative of the practice of mercy.  He asks us to allow our love of God to take us beyond what we already know.  How can you extend this in your life?  To what conclusions does it lead you today?  In a world which seems only to ratchet up its desire for hostility, how does an act of mercy stand out among the others?