with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus replied, “What a good answer! Do this and you shall live.”
The man wanted to justify his question, so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus then said,
“There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers.
They stripped him, beat him and went off, leaving him half-dead.
It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man,
but passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite saw the man, and passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan also was going that way; and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion.
He went over to him, and cleaned his wounds with oil and wine, and wrapped them in bandages.
Then he put him on his own mount, and brought him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day,
he had to set off; but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, and said,
‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I return.’”
Jesus then asked, “Which of these three, do you think,
made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The teacher of the law answered, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus said,
“Then go and do the same.”
REFLECTION:
The teacher of the law who came to interview Jesus wanted to test the wisdom of
the carpenter from Nazareth and so asked a burning question of their day
– the question of entering into eternal life. The answer? Utter simplicity
– Love of God and love of neighbor! But he had to asked “who is my neighbor?”
We are all familiar with the story. Jesus lets the teacher of the law give the punch
line of the story when Jesus asked who was neighbor to the victim.
The teacher of the law had to answer “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus led the “opposition” to accept the heart of the Gospel – MERCY!
This is the Gospel that St. Paul had to remind the Galatians in the first reading.
There is no other Gospel save the Gospel of Mercy! All the 4 canonical Gospels
(Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) proclaim only one Gospel: that our God is a God of love and mercy,
and we who belong to the Kingdom live by the gospel witnessed by the Good Samaritan.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020