In our gospel for today Jesus is teaching us what it means by being a true believer in God. The scholar of the law points out rightly that it is central to all believers to not only to love God with our whole being, but to love our neighbors as ourselves. Then the scholar asks Jesus to clarify who his neighbor is.
In the Jewish culture of the time, the Jews despised the Samaritans. Yet, Jesus uses the example of a Samaritan to get across the message that we are to be neighbors to all people, no matter what our differences may be. In the parable, a priest and Levite avoid helping the one attacked by robbers. They may have had their reasons: the priest may have been on his way to a service, and the Levite may have been afraid of being made "unclean" according to Jewish law by touching someone who was bleeding and wounded. Instead of looking at the need of the one hurt, they were more worried about themselves. It was only the Samaritan that went over and above to help the one attacked by the robbers, without any worry about what effect it would have on him. The Samaritan saw someone in need and went out of his way to help the victim.
We are all called to reach out to those in need around us. Maybe not as dramatically as the Samaritan did, but there are those we come across in our day to day lives that may need our care or help: whether it's a family member or friend. Or by helping those we may encounter in our daily lives! For example, there were times when I would be on my way to work and getting a cup of coffee from the coffee shop before going into the office, and I would encounter someone out front asking for help to get food. I would offer t buy him/her breakfast at the coffee shop. In helping that person get food, I was being neighbor to that person. The person was grateful, and, in that person, I saw not only my neighbor, but I saw Christ.
I attempt to live out this law of love of God and neighbor daily. Let us look beyond the differences we see in the people we encounter and look at them as those made in the image and likeness of God.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteThe Parable of the GOOD SAMARITAN is my favorite of Our LORD'S Parables in the Gospels.
I learned on a Catholic Charismatic Retreat at Bishop Molloy Retreat House over 20 years ago--I think it was preached by Father Richard McAlear, OMI--that the priest & the Levite would have been deemed "ritually unclean" & unable to perform their services in the Temple for a designated period of time if they made contact with a dead body & from where they were walking they were unable to determine if the man had been dead or just half dead. So they had a lot more to lose (which included their livelihood) if they had approached the man & he turned out to be dead. So now I don't view the priest & the Levite quite as negatively as I had in the past. Prior to that I always thought that as religious people they should have been the first to help.
Although the SAMARITAN had less to lose, he overcame the prejudice that existed between Jews & Samaritans & he also invested quite a bit of his time, energy & material resources to help a stranger & an adversary. So he Is still to be highly commended & emulated.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteIt is true that we should try whenever we can to be aware of people in need, whether family, friends, geographical neighbors, co-workers & even strangers, especially people who are homeless, & try to help, even in a small way.
Often a simple act of kindness, like giving food to a homeless person on the street or paying toward the food bill or the coffee or groceries of someone on the checkout line who is stressed out and/or struggling financially can help someone more than we realize. This is sometimes referred to as a "random act of kindness".
I listen to K-LOVE radio, a contemporary Christian music radio station & they have people call in to share how they have received or given to someone to help make a difference on "MAKE A DIFFERENCE MONDAY" (M.A.D.) every week