In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us a valuable lesson on helping others. A scholar of the law asked Jesus a question “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered, like he often did, with a question: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
Listen to the scholar’s answer:
“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.”
Jesus responded with: “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” The scholar could have walked away and lived as Jesus told him. But he didn’t.
How many times are we like the scholar? We want to justify ourselves before others, so we just have to push the issue, to push the point one more step. So, the scholar asked another question: “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus tells the parable we all know as the Good Samaritan. Why do we call it the Good Samaritan? The Jews looked down on Gentiles and Samaritans. The Messiah would only come to bring salvation for the Jewish people, not the Gentiles nor Samaritans.
Further, the Jewish people considered the Samaritans to lower than the dogs which were not pets as we know them today but were avoided because if a dog licked a person, that person would unclean and need to go through the purification rites to worship in the synagogue.
Now we begin to understand why this parable is referred to as the “Good Samaritan” because all Samaritans were considered BAD. The Samaritan’s hated the Jews and mistreated them as well.
In the parable, Jesus tells us “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho nineteen miles from Jerusalem. Jericho, the second city of Judea, was a city of the priests and Levites, and thousands of them lived there. The two mentioned here are returning from serving their temple duties in Jerusalem.
Notice that the Gospel tell us that when the priest and the Levite saw the victim on the side of the road, they passed by on the opposite side of the road. We don’t know why they passed on the opposite side of the road. It could have been for fear that the robbers were still close by. It could have been that they didn’t want to touch the victim because that would make them unclean and prevent them from serving in the synagogue in Jericho. It could have been because the victim was going to die anyway so why bother. We just don’t know.
Notice that the first mention about the Samaritan was that he was moved with compassion at the sight. Gregory The Great said “He who gives outward things gives something external to himself, but he who imparts compassion and tears gives him something from his very self”.
After Jesus told the parable, Jesus asked the scholar: “Who was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The scholar answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Those who have compassion for someone give something of themselves. Jesus said for us to: “Go and do likewise”. We must have compassion for those in need and treat them with mercy, even those whom we dislike or hate.
