Luke 10, 25-37
A lawyer stood up and said that he would be tested: “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” Then he said, “You have answered well. Do it and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself and said to Jesus “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered: “A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of the robbers, who after taking him out and beating him left him half dead. By chance a priest came that way and saw him and turned aside. And a Samaritan who was on his way, came to him; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and he approached, and bandaged his wounds, and poured oil and wine on him, and lifted him up on his own mountain, and carried him to him . an inn and looked after him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said: “Take care of him, and if you spend more, I’ll give it back to you when I get back.” Which of these three do you think was a neighbor of the one who fell into the hands of the thieves? He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him: “Go and do the same yourself.”
Reflection:
It is a well known parable for the time we live, and more, when this name is used in campaigns to raise money for the needy, what’s more, many organizations are in charge of helping others, use this name as a motto “Good Samaritan “But it will be, when Jesus was on earth, Jews and Samaritans got along well. The answer is no, because the Bible itself clearly expresses it in the Gospel of John, because the Samaritan woman says to Jesus “How, being a Jew, you ask me to drink, being a Samaritan woman? Because Jews and Samaritans do not treat each other ”(John 4: 9), there are versions that say“ they do not agree ”. The Jews believed that the Samaritans were a mixture of Jews and non-Jews (non-Jews) and did not represent their race.
The central theme of the parable is that we must love our neighbor and our neighbor is the close person who needs our help, help, help, attention, regardless of their creed, nationality, race, etc.
Let’s now look at the context in which Jesus gave this parable. An interpreter of the law wanted to put him to the test and asked him: what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus asked the same question in other contexts, as we observed with the rich young man in Matthew 19:16, Mark 10:17, and Luke 18:18. In the same way, to prove it, they asked him a question in Matthew 22:36, what is the great commandment of the law? The answers to these questions have to do with the same topic, the great commandment of God and the other important thing, found in Deuteronomy 6: 5 and Leviticus 19:18, respectively. Jesus asked him a counter-question: “What is written in the law? What are you reading there? And it was when the interpreter’s law told him: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Oneself. “Followed by Jesus says:” You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. But wanting to justify himself, he asks him: “And who is my neighbor?” And that’s when Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan. This desire to justify himself refers more to the fact that for contemporary Jews of this time, the neighbor regarded him as another close Jew.
The story of the parable in a few words is that a man traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho, some thieves appeared on the road who stripped him of his belongings and left him almost as dead, he remained lying on the ground, then a priest passed, then to He floats nearby, and none of them helped him, though they saw him; when a Samaritan later passed by, he helped him and even took him to an inn and paid him for several days until he returned. Then Jesus asks the interpreter of the law: of the three, who do you think was the neighbor of the one who fell into the hands of the thieves? And he replied, “The one who had compassion on him.” Jesus said, “Well, go and do the same.” Notice that he does not even mention the word Samaritan, but rather the one who had compassion on him.
There are several things to highlight that revolve around the central theme of the parable, that is, that we should love our neighbor, and our neighbor is the close person who needs attention:
- Jesus did not give in to the interpreter’s claim to make him fall before the other Jews for interpreting the law.
- Jesus Christ did not come to abolish God’s law, but to fulfill it.
- Jesus Christ wanted to teach the Jews that highly rejected Samaritans were also welcome as part of God’s plan of salvation. The order of the great commission is revealed in Acts 1: 8 “but you will have power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
- Jesus sent his disciples in pairs to preach and tell them: do not go the way of the Samaritans or the Gentiles, but to the lost house of Israel (Matthew 10: 5), but as his ministry developed, he wanted them to every person born again will love his neighbor, the close person who needed help. It is not that they would simply love and help each other among the Jews, among their own race, but that the scope of supply, Samaritans and non-Jews, would have to be expanded.
- Jesus wants all his disciples to love their neighbor as he loved us. Your listeners must understand that God is love, and that the greatest commandment of all is to love God above all and the other important thing is to love your neighbor as yourself, then give them the new commandment, it does not change God’s purpose, but rather, the source of the love expressed in John 13: 14-15 “I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Through this, everyone will know that they are my disciples, if they love each other. “
To conclude this reflection, let us note that Jesus says to the interpreter of the law: “Well, go and do the same.” We must concentrate on worshiping God, glorifying Him, exalting Him, seeing His Majesty, and loving Him with our whole being. Christ, to carry out what we have in our mind and heart; We must love our neighbor, the close person who needs our help, so that God may be glorified, as expressed in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. “