In ancient times, honor was more important than life. It was considered acceptable to lie or even kill an opponent if that person dishonored your family’s name. Bringing shame on an opponent was a tactic that is still practiced today. Our current political polarization and feuds exemplify that human nature remains unchanged over the millennium.
In today’s Gospel, Luke makes the point that the reason the scholar of the law asked this question was to test Jesus, to try to dishonor Jesus with a question that he could not answer correctly. “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus, like he so often did, asked a question in return. “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
The scholar replied: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” This is the same answer Jesus gave another scholar previously.
Jesus commended him for his response. But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus was a great master at using parables to make a point. He tells the story of a person who is on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. Traveling in those days was dangerous because of the robbers along the highways. The man is robbed, beaten, striped of his clothing and left along the road for dead.
Jesus tells of three people who pass by the victim; a priest, a Levite who served in the temple and another person that everyone probably expected to be a Jew, but Jesus uses a Samaritan instead. This really turned the story on a different level for the listeners because the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies and the treatment by the Samaritan to a Jew would make the victim unclean.
The priest probably considered helping the victim but the risk of becoming unclean was too great. The Levite probably considered helping the victim but passed on for the same reason. “What if the victim was not a Jew?” was in their minds because that would make them unclean. We don’t have the concept of being unclean and needing to go to Jerusalem to be purified so we could be holy again. But in that day, it was paramount to avoid anything that could make one unholy.
John Pilch tells us:
“The Samaritan offers the first aid (wine, oil, and bandages), which the Levite could have done but neglected to do. The Samaritan’s risk is that this victim might hate him upon
regaining consciousness. Samaritan wine and oil were considered impure and would have made the (very likely) Judean victim impure too!”
Finally, the Samaritan, in contrast to the robbers, promises to return and pay any additional expenses. This is perhaps the most foolish part of this story. If the victim should die, his family, who will not be able to find the robbers, may kill his benefactor instead. Or if the victim survives, he may rage at this Samaritan for making him impure with Samaritan wine and oil. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of purity, that is, the determination to “be holy as the Lord is holy”.
It’s hard for us to understand this concept of hatred and avoidance of people just because of their race or culture and the impact that they might make us unholy and impure. As Catholics, we believe that all people are created in God’s image and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. And yet, we find it all around us if we look with open eyes. We find it in our attitude toward immigrants, toward Pro Abortionists who attack us, and toward those who don’t share our views.
In the Gospel, Jesus turns the question on the scholar and asks, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The scholar is now backed into a corner and must answer Jesus. He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
We often avoid the person standing on the street corner with a cardboard sign asking for help, or wish the person wasn’t there. We look the other way, so we don’t have to make eye contact.
We are fortunate that when we go to the grocery store to get food, the shelves are stocked, and we can buy it. Even though the pandemic had some shortages, we have forgotten the inconvenience. It’s easy for us to forget that the war in Ukraine is creating a food shortage in Africa and thousands are expected to die of starvation because of it. We must do what we can through Catholic Relief Services and like organizations to help them.
Closer to home, it is imperative that we remain “Neighbor” to those who vandalize our churches and the Blessed Body because of our stand for Life. It is easy for hatred against them to creep into our hearts.
It is also imperative that we stand against Capital Punishment and Euthanasia for the old and terminally ill. Eight states have enacted laws making a prescription for medication to end one’s life accessible to everyone. These have fallen into the shadows of the fight against Abortion but must remain in our prayers and our fight for ‘Life from Conception through Natural Death’.
So, who is my neighbor? In today’s parable, Jesus said that even our enemy is our neighbor, and we must care for them like family. Sometimes those two become the same. How many of us have a family member we can’t stand or even hate? Regardless of the reason, Jesus tells us that we must treat them as our neighbor too.
It’s so easy for little things to creep into our hearts without our recognizing them for the impact they have on our spiritual lives. Dislike for someone gradually over time becomes hatred. Irritations from the loud obnoxious family member gradually becomes avoidance of the person. Distain for the poor on the corner asking for help hardens our hearts against helping anyone.
Jesus gave the scholar an invaluable lesson that applies for us today. After the scholar answered the question, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
We must examine our hearts and ask ourselves “Do I treat everyone with mercy as Jesus taught?”
