"Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD. Jonah 1:1-2
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 10:37
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| This stained glass window illustrating the parable shows the priest and the Levite in the background (Church of St. Eutrope, Clermont-Ferrand). |
Piety
I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you. John 13:34
Study
"And who is my neighbor?"
The story in today’s Good News is prompted by this question posed by – of all professions – a lawyer (who is learned and probably should know the answer). Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The very expression would be an oxymoron in ancient Palestine because Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other.
Despite this cultural contradiction, the man from Samaria helps the injured man of the story. The hated Samaritan is portrayed as more Christ-like than the rabbi who ran away in fear or the Levite who also passed by on the opposite side of the street. We are drawn to the same conclusion.
In ancient Palestine, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notoriously dangerous and difficult. It was known as the "Way of Blood" because "of the blood which is often shed there by robbers." Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, on the day before his death, described the road as follows:
As soon as we got on that road I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road ... In the days of Jesus, it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking, and he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so, the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?"[i]
The parables of Luke usually revolve around one critical action: the kingdom of God is all about seeking out the lost.[ii] You know: lost sheep, lost son (prodigal), and the lost coin.
In this story, the injured man was “lost” until help arrived. With his injuries, he was probably on the verge of losing his life if a “first responder” did not stop to render aid. The Samaritan also was lost to the love of the Jewish community. However, thankfully, the two ended up in the same orbit – so help was on the way for both of these men. Fr. Ronald Witherup, noted: “There is a call to repentance embedded in these parables, for sure, but more striking is the insistence that God actually operates a lost-and-found department, in which the lost can be assured they will be sought out and found.”
The beauty of parables is that they have virtually limitless possibilities for interpretation precisely because they are not simplistic moral lessons. We can suggest, however, that in the context of a society where many people call for vengeance, for strict punishment, and even for the death penalty in some cases, the message of God reaching out and seeking the lost is not an easy one to accept.[iii]
Luke's favorable treatment of Samaritans is in line with Luke's favorable treatment of the weak and of outcasts, generally.
Action
Who is your injured robber? Who is your Good Samaritan? Who is your fleeing Levite and rabbi?
Speaking of reaching out to the lost sons and daughters, Jesuit Fr. James Martin recently published a book, approved by his Jesuit superiors, about opening a dialogue about how to reconcile with Catholics who are LGBT. However, to avoid distraction and controversy from a minority of voices, several Catholic institutions have decided to retract invitations already made to Fr. Martin to talk at their school or organization. Fr. Martin has recently written a book
The leaders of these groups felt that avoiding controversy was the best course of action. However, in doing so, they have given credence to voices which seem to reject the truth of Gospel love and mercy that the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches. These people seem to be on Jonah’s agenda – escaping the Gospel of love by moving away from the core message, rather than toward it, and instead pursuing a personal agenda.
What seems to be missing in these dis-invitations, is an understanding that the Gospel is simply about our capacity to respond to God’s love by simply loving each other. Person-to-person.
The cornerstone grace with which Fr. James has reacted is striking. He exhibits the love of the Good News despite being rejected by some organizations.
Who is your injured robber? Who is your Samaritan?
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