15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

Lk 10:25-37

Also see >>>> 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2010

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 neighbour. 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 probably happened when Jesus recounted the parable before his Jewish audience.