The gospel for Mass this Sunday (15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 10, 2022) is the very familiar story of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37). In fact, it's so familiar we may forget that it was born of confrontation, not on the part of Jesus but on the part of the scholar of the law. We hear that this scholar stands up to "test" Jesus. The original Greek word for "test" used here in chapter 10 (ekpeirazō) is an intensified form of the same word used by the devil who "tests" Jesus in chapter 4 (peirazō). Needless to say, this does not put the scholar in good company, but it does reveal his intention. He wants to take Jesus down; he wants to demonstrate that Jesus is not true to the law. The scholar, however, fails to appreciate two things: First, he is not confronting some amateur interpreter of the law in Jesus; he stands before the Lawgiver Himself. Second, the scholar does not understand how faulty his own interpretation of the law is. Still, the conversation doesn't seem so bad at first. The scholar asks what one must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answers with his own questions: "What's written in the law? How do you read it?" Jesus could have pointed out the implied self-sufficiency in the scholar's question-the notion that one can do something to earn salvation-but he gives the scholar the benefit of the doubt and waits to hear his response. The scholar's answer is correct, technically speaking. He does not simply repeat the 10 commandments; he goes immediately to the heart of the matter and summarizes the entire law in terms of love-love of God and love of neighbor-the same words that Jesus would use. It seems the scholar has done his homework. But the scholar's interpretation of the words he uses, how he reads the law, is immediately suspect when he asks his next question: "And who is my neighbor?" The scholar knows that the law-narrowly interpreted-extends the title "neighbor" only to fellow Jews. His question is meant to stir up controversy and to set limits on love, which he does not extend to Jesus, even though Jesus, a Jew, is his neighbor. We learn from this that the scholar may be able to talk about the law and give correct answers, but his understanding needs deepening. Jesus, despite the hostility aimed at him, continues the conversation with the famous story of the Good Samaritan.  The icon of the Good Samaritan hangs next to the entrance of the chapel in the office of Catholic Charities USA, Alexandria, Va. (Photo by Elias Kontogiannis) |
The story begins with the poor victim beaten almost to death and left on the side of the road. The first person to come down the road is a priest-an expert in the law-and the law says that he cannot touch a dead person. So, to be safe, he does not go near the man, he does not investigate, he isn't even moved to see if anything can be done. He decides to pass by on the far side of the road. Next comes the Levite, also of the priestly class at that time, and also knowledgeable about the law. He makes the same choice as the priest; he passes by as far away as possible, to be safe and to keep the law. Now, the listeners of Jesus would have expected the third person to come along in the story to be a layperson, which would lead to the crushing conclusion by the storyteller indicting the scholar and priests and the experts of the law of getting bogged down in minutiae while a regular Jew, abiding by the spirit of the law, cares for the victim. But Jesus upsets the expectations of everyone. He says that the third person coming down the road is a Samaritan, a hated enemy of the Jews and not someone to be portrayed in a good light, according to the customs of the time. To appreciate the shock value of Jesus' words, it would be like someone saying to us in our day that a "Good Terrorist" came to the rescue. Moreover, by making the third person a Samaritan, Jesus changes the conversation from an intramural fight into an opportunity to fully appreciate God's commandment to love. Everyone should be challenged by Jesus' words; and they are challenging. Consider again what the Samaritan does: he sees the same sight as the priest and Levite, but instead of moving away, he is moved with deep compassion. The Samaritan moves closer to the victim, not further away; he tends to the victim's wounds, places him on his donkey, puts him up in an inn, continues to care for him, pays the innkeeper, and promises to come back to pay for any extra expenses. And he does all this knowing that, as a Samaritan, he may receive from the victim-especially if the victim is a Jew-not gratitude, but retaliation. What the Samaritan does is extravagant, over-the-top, Christ-like charity, and again, it is meant to challenge every listener to consider how seriously one receives and practices God's commandment of love. Part of Jesus' point is that if the understanding of the law prevents the priest and Levite from helping a dying man, then there is something wrong with that understanding. Jesus has no problem with the law. He has no problem with the scholar's first answer: that the law is summed up in love of God and neighbor. What Jesus has a problem with is interpreting the law to protect oneself, to set up limits to keep oneself safe and comfortable. The question "Who is my neighbor?" can be used to absolve oneself from extending love to a lot of people, if understood narrowly. That's why Jesus offers a better question: Which of the three was neighbor to the victim? If the fulfillment of the law is love, then each precept needs to be interpreted with love in mind. In other words, the question is not "who is my neighbor?" but "how can I be a good neighbor to the person in front of me at this moment?" It's not always an easy question to answer, but Jesus points us in the right direction. |
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