Luke 10:25-37 The Good Samaritan
At that time, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
There exists in Christian Tradition a Wisdom regarding how to live the Gospel. This Wisdom reminds us that the purely literal reading of Scripture may not be enough for us to know how to live. Our Lord Jesus Himself was a Wisdom teacher – not a law giver, but offering the Divine Wisdom to guide us in our thinking and our decision making. The Gospel Lesson of the Good Samaritan tells us to go and imitate the Good Samaritan – be neighborly to those you meet in life, even if they are strangers or enemies. You don’t have to wait until someone is in dire straights or suffering from misfortune before being neighborly to them. Being neighborly may entail intervening in a situation before it become tragic. The Tradition also advocates that we approach all neighbors with wisdom – we do need to understand what we are getting into before thrusting ourselves into every situation oblivious to the risks involved. In THE PARADISE OF THE HOLY FATHERS, we find this wisdom story advocating wisdom to the would be Good Samaritan:
One of the old men used to say, “If you see a man who has fallen into the water, and you can help him, stretch out your staff to him, and draw him out, lest, if you stretch out your hand to him, and you are not able to bring him up, he drags you down and both of you perish.” Now he spoke this for the sake of those who thrust themselves forward to help other people who are being tempted, and who, through wishing to help others beyond their power, themselves fall. It is right for a man to help his brother according to the power that he has, for God demands not from a man that which is beyond his strength.
November 15, 2009 at 9:24 pm
One interesting aspect of this parable of Jesus, that might escape modern readers, is his choice of a Samaritan as the charitable hero. In Jesus’ day, the Samaritans were despised as heretics, schismatics and political renegades in the eyes of the Jews, because they didn’t accept all the sacred writings the Jews accepted, set up their own temple and priesthood on Mount Gerizim apart from the Jerusalem temple and priesthood on Mount Zion, and kept apart from the Jewish community and its political establishment. So here, Jesus points to a heretic, schismatic and secessionist as a doer of good who puts himself out for his fellow man (a complete stranger, to boot), while two Jews, a priest and the Levite — clergy of the Jerusalem temple, thus expected to be practitioners of the law and the prophets God gave to Israel — bypass the robbery victim in distress and offer no help, thus not behaving as the law and the prophets taught. It seems to be a warning to those who might take too much pride in orthodoxy and canonicity while missing the point of the gospel. “Don’t be too quick to look down on the heterodox, make sure you’re doers and not just hearers of my word,” perhaps?
November 15, 2009 at 9:37 pm
True enough. I think that in the parable there is a criticism of a particular emphasis of some Jews – namely putting ritual purity and perfection above mercy. Jesus soundly criticizes this interpretation of the Torah numerous times. No doubt both the priest and Levite are following the ritual purity laws of the Torah and avoiding touching one they assume is dead so that they will not become unclean. Keeping Torah in this way is really keeping only part of Torah. Yes, the Samaritans were heretics and schismatics for not accepting the entirity of Scriptures but one of the points Jesus is making is that so too a Pharisaical interpretation of the Torah focuses only on some of the Law while ignoring other parts. The Levite and priest maintain ritual purity but fail to embrace the Torah’s emphasis on love and mercy. The Parable of Jesus is offered to disabuse the lawyer of his self congratulatory attitude about fully keeping the Torah. No, he didn’t keep all the law but only some of it and he ignored the very words he quoted about keeping the law: The Shema of Israel – Love the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength an to love the neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ parable challenges the lawyer’s claim to have kept all the Law – have you loved your neighbor? Have you treated as neighbor the person in need you encountered today?