Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
Lk 10:25-37
EXEGESIS
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
This question was put to Jesus in order to test him. The answer was: love God and love your neighbour. But there was also another instance when Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” And this was also meant to test Jesus. And the answer he gave was the same: love God and love your neighbor. This came to be known as the two-fold commandment of love.
Two-fold commandment of love
The first part of the commandment is taken from what is known as the Shema. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord alone is our God. You shall love….” It is found in Dt. 6:4-9. The Moslems have a similar declaration: “There is only one God and he is Allah and Mohammad is his prophet.”
What is significant with the Shema is that we are asked to love God with our heart, being, strength and mind. What does this mean? Heart, being, strength and mind constitute the whole person. We are, therefore, asked to love God with a personal love. The following are examples of personal love: the love between friends; the love between husband and wife; the love between parent and child; the love between siblings. We are called to love God in a similar fashion.
The second part is to love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s re-word it. Love your neighbor in the same way that you love yourself. Therefore, Christianity doesn’t only teach us to love others. It teaches us to love ourselves, too. In fact, the further implication is that chronologically and logically we have to love ourselves first.
And who is my neighbor?
How do we interpret this question? The scholar is asking Jesus to tell him how his fellowman should behave so he becomes a neighbor. In other words, being neighbor is the responsibility of the other and not of oneself.
By narrating the parable Jesus is telling the scholar that he got it all wrong. Being neighbor is not the responsibility of one’s fellowman. Being neighbor is one’s responsibility. That was why the question of Jesus at the end was: Who behaved as a neighbor to robbery victim? And the answer was: the one who showed him mercy.
This reminds me of a story recounted by a priest a long time ago. He said that he was riding a motorbike and he met an accident. People came to him. But to his surprise he felt someone taking his watch. That person was there not to help him but to rob him!
The Priest and the Levite
Let us not be harsh with the priest and the Levite. They did not even come near the victim. But it was not because they were heartless. The priest and the Levite were on their way to Jerusalem to serve at the Temple. If they touched the victim and he turned out to be dead, they would be unclean. Once unclean they can not serve in the Temple. They can not serve God. For them God comes first. So they have a point. They were probably acting in good faith.
However, Jesus teaches us that in these situations when a fellowman is in need of our help, our fellowman should be helped.
The Samaritan
St. Luke likes to make the Samaritan the good guy, the hero. When Jesus healed the 10 lepers, only one came back to say thank you. And he was a Samaritan. This is unusual. The expected hero and good guy would be the Jew and the Samaritan would be the bad guy. It’s like in the movies. When Americans and Russians fight, who wins? The Americans, of course. When the Filipinos and the Japanese fight in WWII? Who are the presented as the good guys. The Filipinos, of course.
Why did St. Luke present the Samaritan as the good guy when he told the parable before his fellow Jews? Perhaps it was to unsettle his hearers. He wanted to rattle them. He wanted them to think. And that is what a parable is supposed to do. Parables are not merely to entertain. They are not just to teach a lesson. They are meant to challenge and provoke the listeners. And that was what probably happened when Jesus recounted the parable before his Jewish audience.
REFLECTIONS
For what was the scholar of the law testing Jesus? I think that the scholar wanted to know how good a rabbi Jesus was. He would know that by the answer Jesus gives to his question. One purpose of the test is, therefore, to find out something.
The test in school is to find out how much or how little the student knows about the things he should know. The board exam for the nurses is to find out whether the nurses have sufficient knowledge with regards to the care of patients. In mechanical engineering, there is the metals testing laboratory. One instrument for example is meant to find out the tensile strength of metals, that is, how much pull a metal can withstand before it breaks.
There is one test that we all go through again and again. But we don’t see it as a test. And that test is temptation.
Temptation as test is not for God to know something about us. Because God knows everything, he doesn’t need temptation to reveal anything new about us. Temptation as test enables us to know more about ourselves. Somebody says that everyone has his price. It was said that some judges issue TRO’s for a price. In the face of a bribe, a judge can learn something about himself.
Let us not boast, however, of being untouched by corruption. I got to know someone who was working at the customs. And he said that he has not been involved in any corruption. I congratulated him. But he was honest and sincere enough to say, “Don’t congratulate me. It’s just because no one has so far offered me a bribe.” Let us not be too sure of ourselves. We might not have fallen into certain sins not because we are good and strong but because we have not been exposed yet to any temptation regarding that particular sin.
Should we seek out temptation in order to test ourselves? Of course, not. That would be pride. When we purposely seek out temptation, we are in fact setting up ourselves for a fall. A Saint once saw a hardened criminal being led to execution. His reaction was: “There go I but for the grace of God.” Another Saint at the beginning of the day would pray: “Lord, lay your hand upon me that I may not stray from your paths.”
The sensible course of action would then be to avoid the sources of temptation or what we call the “occasions of sin”. There are four sources: people, places, things and events. Bad companions or BI’s are sources. The home when nobody is around might be a source of temptation for young unmarried couples. Some schools have banned cellphones because they are a source of temptation. Concerts in schools can be occasions of sin, too. It’s not the concert itself really but places in the campus during the concert.
But temptations will come no matter how careful we are. That’s just the way it is. How do we make ourselves strong against temptation? St. John Bosco proposes a sacramental spirituality. He insisted on going to communion AND confession. He said that communion and confession are the two wings with which we fly to heaven. In my opinion, communion and confession are not primarily for the saints. I believe that Jesus gave these two sacraments primarily for us who desire to be good but find ourselves failing now and again in the face of temptations.
Let me leave you with a statement that to me is very encouraging. It goes this way. Saints are sinners who kept on trying. Saints are sinners who kept on trying. We may fall in the face of temptation. But let us not give up. Let’s stand up and keep on trying.
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The Salesians of Don Bosco is a religious congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to the welfare of the young. If you feel called by God to give your life for the good of the young, you may want help in discovering if this is really God's will for you. Please get in touch with the Vocation Director (Don Bosco North Province, Philippines) - 0917-7930112 - finvoc@yahoo.com - Bro. MON CALLO SDB.
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