Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I
would not be a slave of Christ. Galatians 1:10
“Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to
the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The
one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus
said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:35-37
Piety
Help us to choose to treat
all with mercy and compassion.
Study
The very people one would
EXPECT to help the victim pass by. The
priest and the Levite run away. They are
evidence that we cannot just hear the Word but that it must cause something in
us to change. The Word must lead us to
act.
The story of the Good
Samaritan comes right before the Lord and his disciples come into the village
where they visit Mary and Martha. It
contrasts well with Martha’s plea for help.
The big difference between the two scenarios is that in the first, there
is no discernment needed. Showing mercy
on the stranger who is left half-dead requires little consideration. Yet, for those who would seem to know better,
they clearly do not act like it.
Mary and Martha, on the
other hand, must choose between two good things. Holy hospitality in serving the Lord and holy
longing in listening to the Lord. Martha did not chose badly. It is just a fact that Mary’s choice is the
better (not the best) of the two options.
“Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:42B)
In addition to how this
contrasts with the next story in Luke, the imagery from the parable of the Good
Samaritan also alludes to significant images of both Christmas and Easter.
He approached the victim, poured oil
and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
We know that when Jesus
was born, he was wrapped in “swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.” The victim also is wrapped and
comforted. When Joseph of Aramithea and
Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross, he was wrapped in a burial cloth that
Peter and John would find on the ground of the empty tomb.
Then he lifted him up on his own
animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him.
On the way to Bethlehem,
popular images have Mary riding on the donkey due to her advanced pregnancy. The inn in today’s Good News had room for the
stranger as opposed to the inn that had a no vacancy sign out for Joseph and Mary.
By Palm Sunday, Jesus was
lifted onto a donkey for the “triumphant” ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. After his trial, Jesus lifted the cross onto
his back for the walk up Calvary before he was “lifted” up onto the cross and
then “lifted” up to Heaven on Ascension Thursday.
The next day he took out two silver
coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him.’
Judas traded his friendship
for greed and collected thirty pieces of silver. The Samaritan was not concerned with his
personal treasury but only with the needs of another.
Action
“Compassion” comes from
words which means to suffer with or to feel pity. The Samaritan was moved to compassion in this
story.
Pope Francis has been
giving some new and favorable attention to the subject of liberation
theology. Liberation theology, a term
first used in 1973 by Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian Roman Catholic priest, is a
school of thought among Latin American Catholics according to which the Gospel
of Christ demands that the church concentrate its efforts on liberating the
people of the world from poverty and oppression. Gutierrez emphasizes that theology is not
just to be learned, it is to be done.[1]
Theologians are not to be mere theoreticians, but practitioners who participate
in the ongoing struggle to liberate the oppressed.
In today’s story, the Good
Samaritan might be the first practitioner of liberation theology. He freed himself from the stereotypes of
society and helped a person people would have expected him to pass. What
stereotypes do you need to overcome to help those in need in the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment