Fifteenth Sunday
of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 10:25-37]
13.07.2025
The
Parable of the Good Samaritan
1. Theme in brief
Love in action
2. Focus Statement
In order to attain eternal life, we must prove our love for God by doing deeds
of mercy to our neighbour, who could be anyone in need or suffering
irrespective of race, nationality or creed.
3.
Explanation of the text
In today’s gospel text, Jesus tells the well-known
Parable of the Good Samaritan in the context of a question asked by a lawyer to test
him about his knowledge of the Law (10:25). His question was what he must do to inherit eternal
life (10:25). Jesus answered his question with a counter-question
about what was written in the Law of Moses about it and how he understood the
Scripture (10:26). Probably, the lawyer knew about the combination of the two scattered
texts of the OT done by Jesus on previous occasions as the essence of the Law:
first one from Deuteronomy 6:5 about loving God with one’s whole heart, soul, strength
and mind; and the second from Leviticus 19:18 about loving one’s neighbour as oneself
(10:27). Hence, he himself answered his question by citing this textual combination
that Jesus might have done on previous occasions. Jesus approved his answer and
told him that he would “live” (that is, inherit eternal life) precisely
by “doing” what
is written in the Law; that is, putting into practice the law of loving God and
loving one’s neighbour as oneself (10:28).
But he had a
further problem. As a lawyer, whose job was to define laws and traditions, he
wanted to know from Jesus the exact definition of the term ‘neighbour’ as Jesus understood it
(10:29). Therefore, he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbour” in order “to justify
himself” (10:29). It means, he wanted to show himself righteous and blameless before God
because he felt he had kept the Law by loving his fellow-Israelites in his
neighbourhood, and probably wanted Jesus also to vindicate him. It had never
occurred to him that the Gentiles and the hated Samaritans could also become
his neighbours if he could minister to them in their need. He was curious to
know exactly how many people could be counted as our neighbours – only
fellow-Israelites, or friends, wayfarers, strangers and foreigners also? Were the
hated Samaritans, Gentiles and one’s personal enemies also included in the
circle of love? Where to draw the boundary line? Strict Jews like the Pharisees,
never considered the Samaritans and the Gentiles as their neighbours. Instead
of answering the lawyer’s question with a clear-cut definition of neighbour,
Jesus told the famous story of the Good Samaritan. After listening to the story
the lawyer would be asked to answer his question by himself (10:36).
In this story, all
the three characters (priest, Levite and Samaritan) saw the same thing – a man
stripped, beaten, and left half-dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho
(10:30). The priest and the Levite passed by him on the other side (10:31-32).
They failed to act or show mercy for fear of getting involved or defiled – as
per Jewish law – if the wounded man were already dead. By describing the
response of the Samaritan towards that man in distress, Jesus makes it clear
what he means by love: feeling “moved with pity” (10:33) at the sight of suffering;
translating that feeling of pity into concrete deeds of mercy (10:37), such as going
to him, bandaging his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, putting him on his own animal, bringing him to an inn, taking
care of him, giving two denarii to the innkeeper
for the treatment requesting the innkeeper to take care of him and if needed promising him to pay further expenses on his return (10:34-35). All the verbs in italics point to concrete
deeds of mercy performed by the Samaritan. Thus, what Jesus meant by love was
not merely feeling pity or sorry for the afflicted person, but acting in practical
and
concrete terms to meet his needs.
That love of neighbour is not a matter to be debated or argued
about, but to be practiced, is made clear by telling the lawyer
to "Go and do likewise" (10: 37) – that
is, do the same type of deeds of mercy done by the Samaritan to the suffering
man. By doing what the Samaritan did, the lawyer could become a neighbour to
him and inherit eternal life. Jesus purposely presented the
Samaritan, hated and despised by the Jews, as the hero of
the story, and a model of charity. The Samaritan proved that he loved God with all his heart,
soul and strength by his deeds of compassion to the suffering man. Thus Jesus challenged the challenger (lawyer) to answer who became
the neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers (10:36). In his
answer, instead of saying that the Samaritan man became a neighbour, he gave a
roundabout description: “the one who showed him mercy” (10:37). This answer makes it clear that race,
caste, nationality or creed is not the criteria to consider somebody as our
neighbour. He/she is anyone in need. Doing deeds of mercy to such a
person is the way to put into practice one’s love for God and to attain eternal
life.
4.
Application to life
As I see it, today’s famous parable of the Good
Samaritan is a subtle attack on the following attitudes and way of life within
the Christian community and the Church: (1) showing indifference and don’t-care
attitude towards the pain, suffering and misery of others and living an unconcerned
and individualistic
life without thinking that this type of life goes against the love of God that
we profess in prayer and worship; (2) taking shelter under the shadow of well
organized and well established institutional Church that is cut off
from the life-issues and miseries of ordinary people. Yes, this parable is
about the sin of non-involvement in the miseries, struggles, pain and sorrow
of people around us.
This parable tells us that our charity or deeds of mercy should
be done to anybody in need or distress going beyond the boundaries of nation, race,
religion or kinship (relatives) circle. The lawyer in today’s gospel wanted to justify
himself or wanted to show himself blameless before God by thinking that he had
kept the Law. Like him, we too sometimes justify ourselves by saying that we
are blameless before God because of our regular attendance in the church and
faithfulness to his commandments. Just as Jesus proved the lawyer wrong in
those days, he proves us also wrong today. He teaches that care and mercy should be shown both to
friends and foes, for that matter anyone, when they are in need or in distress.
According to Jesus, both the terms ‘love’ and ‘neighbour’ are not a matter of
academic debate.
To answer the question who is our neighbour, we need to bother
neither about the definition of the term nor its limits. Anyone whom
we meet by chance on the road of life and is in need or suffering is our
neighbour. We become true neighbours when we, after getting moved with pity
for the needy and the suffering like the Samaritan, reach out to them with service and care, by crossing all the boundaries.
According to the lawyer’s understanding, the priest and
the Levite were his neighbours because they belonged to his own ethnic
community and religion. But in this parable the heretical Samaritan who is not
considered a neighbour by the Jews turned out to be the real neighbour by
showing his concern
and care for the suffering person. Today, who is our neighbour? Our neighbour could
be the one whom we know and has lost a child; one who cannot repair the roof of
his/her house before the rains come; one who has no helping hands to do agricultural
activities; one who is weak in studies in our classroom; one who is absent in
the class for many days; one who is sick and nobody to take care of; one who
has gone astray from God or the Church; etc. Loving such people does not mean mere
pity, words of sympathy or a few tears. It means meeting their concrete needs
by rolling up our sleeves and dirtying our fingers. Actually speaking, there is
no end or limit to the list of neighbours for those who have love in their
hearts and have eyes to see. Instead of asking as the lawyer asked, who the object of my love is, we
must ask how we can be the subject of love towards the needy by doing what the Samaritan did.
In fact, Jesus demolished all the boundaries and circles established by Jewish
exponents of the Law to determine who one’s neighbour is.
Normally we consider our neighbours as good neighbours
if they do not trouble anybody or do not get involved in our or in somebody
else’s affairs. When there is a tragedy or accident, they may help. Otherwise
they may not go out of themselves in sharing and caring. However, according to
Jesus, neighbours are those who get involved in the troubles or concerns of
others. Naturally, when we reach out to those in distress, it will cost
us a bit of our time, energy, money, conveniences, comforts, and demand sacrifice
of these things. A lot of people try to escape from the discomforts of these
sacrifices by making excuses. But those who have genuine love for
God in their hearts do not consider this as a loss or waste of time or these
sacrifices too costly. Thank God; we have people who are willing to render selfless
service in our society and in our own parishes. But as our society gets more
and more modernized and secularized, we are given the impression that latest
things in the market like iPod or iPhone must be loved and people must be used
(even abused) for our purpose. When we begin to love things and use people, we
become much worse than the priest and the Levite in today’s gospel; we bypass
not only human needs but humanity itself.
As we journey through ‘Jericho Roads’ of our daily life,
we meet by chance people left on the roadsides of misery. Today, Jesus invites
us to have a heart of compassion for such needy people if we really
love God with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind as the lawyer quoted
from the Scriptures. To show compassion is to suffer with those who suffer and
share their pain and agony. Compassion does not leave us indifferent or insensitive
to another’s pain but calls for solidarity with the suffering. Compassion means to go out of ourselves and reach out to
those who are in need. The Good Samaritan is an example par excellence of what
compassion really means. He also could have closed his eyes at the suffering
and misery of that waylaid traveller and passed by on the other side just like
the priest and the Levite. A ‘neighbour’ in his heart was born when he stopped
and stooped
down
out of love to help the stranger when he saw him in distress. Everyone who
stops at the suffering of another person and renders any form of help with love
in his/her heart is a Good Samaritan. Notice the series of concrete actions or
deeds of mercy done by him to the suffering man, in the explanation of the text
given above. Jesus tells us to do similar acts of mercy.
We cannot serve God in the Church if we fail to serve
him first on the road of life. Like the priest and the Levite, sometimes we
pass by people who lie on the road of life. We are indifferent and insensitive
to the needs, pain, suffering and misery of others. Indifference means just ignoring
a person in need as if he/she did not exist. Like these two persons who
bypassed the suffering man, in modern times we too pass by the needy and the
suffering by making excuses not to help: fear of getting involved, facing troubles,
getting implicated, and considerations such as lack of time, urgency of other
works, etc. Instead of thinking what will happen to me if I get involved, we
should think what will happen to the person lying half-dead on the road, if I
don’t help. The question each one of us needs to ask is whether I am willing to
be a Good Samaritan to such people in such situations.
Today, the Lord invites all of us to repent
for the times we have passed by somebody who needed our help, support,
understanding and consolation. He also invites us to regret for the times we
failed to show that we love God with all our heart, soul and strength by concrete deeds
of compassion to the suffering, or for the times our
love was limited to sentiments of pity without doing anything to alleviate pain
and misery. Let us be sorry for failing to reach out in compassionate service and
care to those who are in pain, misery and helplessness.
5.
Response to God's Word
This parable poses quite a few probing questions: Do we
show compassion at the sight of pain, grief and misery? Does it remain purely
at the level of sentiments and sympathy, or does it lead us to render concrete
deeds of service? Who are our ‘neighbours’ today who are lying on the
‘roadside’ and are in need of our help now? How are we going to become good
Samaritans to them by reaching out to them in a spirit of sharing and caring? If
a despised Samaritan can become a model of charity towards his enemy (a Jew),
why can’t we do the same to those who are not our friends or relatives?
6.
A Prayer
Jesus, you became a Good Samaritan for us by stooping
down to render humble and sacrificial service for us unto death. As your
disciples we have quite often bypassed the needy and the suffering by making excuses.
We have failed to reach out to them with compassionate service and care. In our
service and care we quite often fail to cross the boundaries of race, caste, tribe
and religion. Give us the grace to deepen and strengthen our Christian commitment.
Amen.
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