October 6, 2025
Monday of the Twenty-seventh
Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 461
Reading
1
This is the word
of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it;
their wickedness has come up before me."
But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD.
He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish,
paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish,
away from the LORD.
The LORD, however, hurled a violent wind upon the sea,
and in the furious tempest that arose
the ship was on the point of breaking up.
Then the mariners became frightened and each one cried to his god.
To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship,
and lay there fast asleep.
The captain came to him and said, "What are you doing asleep?
Rise up, call upon your God!
Perhaps God will be mindful of us so that we may not perish."
Then they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots
to find out on whose account we have met with this misfortune."
So they cast lots, and thus singled out Jonah.
"Tell us," they said, "what is your business?
Where do you come from?
What is your country, and to what people do you belong?"
Jonah answered them, "I am a Hebrew,
I worship the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land."
Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him,
"How could you do such a thing!–
They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD,
because he had told them.–
They asked, "What shall we do with you,
that the sea may quiet down for us?"
For the sea was growing more and more turbulent.
Jonah said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea,
that it may quiet down for you;
since I know it is because of me
that this violent storm has come upon you."
Still the men rowed hard to regain the land, but they could not,
for the sea grew ever more turbulent.
Then they cried to the LORD: "We beseech you, O LORD,
let us not perish for taking this man's life;
do not charge us with shedding innocent blood,
for you, LORD, have done as you saw fit."
Then they took Jonah and threw him into the sea,
and the sea's raging abated.
Struck with great fear of the LORD,
the men offered sacrifice and made vows to him.
But the LORD sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah;
and Jonah remained in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed
to the LORD, his God.
Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (cf. 7) You
will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Out of my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me;
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows
passed over me.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Then I said, "I am banished from your sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple."
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
There was a
scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?
How do you read it?"
He said in reply,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself."
He replied to him, "You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live."
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied,
"A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
'Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.'
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."
Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100625.cfm
Commentary on Jonah 1:1—2:1,11
The book of Jonah
is one of the most delightful in the whole Bible. It is probably the only book
where the author wrote with his tongue firmly in his cheek. While there are
marvellous things in the Bible, humour is generally not one of its
characteristics. There is a lot of humour, of the biting kind, in this book.
And, what is even more rare, the laugh is mainly on the chief character.
Although it is
written in a narrative style, it is not history. It is a didactic story with a
moral—and a very important moral at that. The fact that it is a book which can
provoke laughter does not mean that its message is to be taken lightly. In
fact, it is one of the most radical of Old Testament writings and has been
described as being on the threshold of the gospel. We will see why as we read
on.
Today’s reading
sets the stage for the unfolding of the story. As the story opens, the word of
Yahweh is addressed to a man called Jonah, son of Amittai. There is mention, in
fact, of a prophet Jonah in the Second Book of Kings, who lived at the time of
Jeroboam II (786-746 BC). This story, which was written some 300 years after
that time, is not about him, but just uses his name.
As a prophet,
Jonah is told to go to the great city of Nineveh and warn them that God is
displeased with their great wickedness. According to Genesis, Nineveh was first
built by Nimrod (perhaps along with Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen) and was
traditionally known as the “great city”. About 700 BC, Sennacherib made it the
capital of Assyria, which it remained until its fall in 612 BC. It was long
destroyed by the time this book was written. It would have been about 800 km
from Gath Hepher, Jonah’s hometown, a long way for the prophet to travel.
Except for violent
behaviour mentioned later on in the story, the “wickedness” of Nineveh is not
described. The prophet Nahum later states that Nineveh’s sins included plotting
evil against the Lord, cruelty and plundering in war, prostitution and
witchcraft and commercial exploitation. In any case, Jonah, as a pious Hebrew,
would take rampant immorality and its rejection by Yahweh as a given in such a
great pagan city.
Not only was its
immorality to be taken for granted, as far as Jonah is concerned, its people
should be left to the fate of all wicked unbelievers. Jonah is appalled at the
idea of trying to convert them and does not want to go there. It seems he has
no intention of having anything to do with such wicked pagans. They deserve all
that God can throw against them.
So Jonah sets off
westward, the opposite direction, and boards a ship at Joppa (the modern
Israeli city of Jaffa) bound for Tarshish to get as far away as possible from
both Nineveh and Yahweh—quite a futile thing to do. As Psalm 139 puts it:
Where can I go
from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast. (Ps 139:7-10)
Jonah will soon
find out how true these words are.
For the Jews
‘Tarshish’ represented the end of the world. The word may be a corruption of
Tartessus, a Phoenician mining colony near Gibraltar in southern Spain.
Perhaps the modern equivalent would be Timbuctoo!
The ship has
hardly got under way when Yahweh hurls a mighty wind and such a great storm
blows up that the ship is in danger of breaking up. This is just one of several
interventions by Yahweh in the story. Jonah’s disobedience has not only put his
own life in danger, but is threatening the lives of a totally innocent crew.
In an effort to
save their lives, the sailors throw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship and
then each one prays to his own god—perhaps one of them will bring the help they
need. One person, however, is not doing any praying. Jonah is below decks fast
asleep. He is not only indifferent to his own fate, but also that of his
shipmates. Maybe he thinks ‘his’ Yahweh will take care of his prophet, even a
disobedient prophet.
However, these
pagans are shown to be somewhat more religious than Jonah gives them credit
for. Certainly his behaviour is in stark contrast to the captain who is using
every possible method, including prayer to every known god, to save those on
board. And he wakes up Jonah and urges him to call on his god, who might be
able to do what the other gods do not seem to be able to do. The “pagan”
captain’s concern for the welfare of everyone on board contrasts with the
‘believing'(?) prophet’s refusal to bring God’s mercy and compassion to the
people of Nineveh.
As a last resort,
the sailors come to the correct conclusion that there is someone on board who
is bringing them all this misfortune. They cast lots to find out who it is
and—surprise, surprise—the lot falls on Jonah. In the context of the story,
this is no chance accident.
The casting of
lots was a custom widely practiced in the ancient Near East. The precise method
is unclear, though it appears that, for the most part, sticks or marked pebbles
were drawn from a receptacle into which they had been thrown. Games such as
this are still found in various parts of the world.
Immediately, the
sailors begin to interrogate Jonah to find out where he comes from. He replies:
I am a Hebrew…I
worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
The sailors would
have understood Jonah’s words as being descriptive of the highest divinity.
Their present experiences confirm this truth, since, in the religions of the
ancient Near East generally, the supreme god was master of the seas.
This is Jonah’s
first confessional statement, and, like those that follow, it is thoroughly
orthodox. Though orthodox in his beliefs, Jonah refuses to fulfil his divine
mission to Nineveh. It is important for us, too, to realise that theological
orthodoxy is not enough to fulfil the most important requirements of Christian
discipleship. The Pharisees were impeccably orthodox as well.
The sailors are
terrified at Jonah’s self-revelation. They now know the cause of their peril. A
believer in the god who controls the seas has disobeyed his god and made him
angry. And they are all the victims of his disobedience. “What is this that you
have done!”, they say to him—a rhetorical question that needs no answer. Then,
as the sea gets rougher and rougher, they then ask Jonah what they are to do
with him in order to restore calm in the sea. It seems as if they are looking
for a way to save their lives, but without doing harm to Jonah. Once again, the
pagan’s care for the Hebrew far surpasses the Hebrew’s care for them. This is
all part of the central lesson of the story.
At last, Jonah
begins to accept responsibility for the situation:
Pick me up and
throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is
because of me that this great storm has come upon you.
At the same time,
Jonah’s readiness to die to save the terrified sailors contrasts with his later
behaviour when he leaves Nineveh expecting to watch its destruction by Yahweh
at a safe distance—which of course, to his great chagrin and disappointment
does not happen.
Even now, the
sailors are still reluctant to do what Jonah suggests, even to save their own
lives. Instead, they tried to row hard in order to reach the shore (it probably
was not very far away; ships in those days tended to stay close to the shore
rather than risk being caught in the open sea). In Hebrew, the language uses
the picturesque word meaning ‘to dig’ (with the oars) to indicate their
strenuous efforts. Again, the reluctance of the sailors to throw Jonah into the
sea stands in sharp contrast to Jonah’s reluctance to bring God’s warning to
Nineveh of impending judgment.
Finally, and still
with great misgivings, the sailors make their prayer to Jonah’s god Yahweh,
asking him not to hold them responsible for the death of an innocent man’s
life:
Please, O Lord,
we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us
guilty of innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.
They then toss
Jonah into the raging sea which immediately becomes calm. They have done the
right thing. At the same time, the sudden calm fills them with great fear.
Jonah’s God is
truly Master of the seas and they offer him a sacrifice and make vows. They
know that only the most powerful of gods can control the seas and the wind.
Remember too, the reaction of the disciples after Jesus had calmed the storm on
the lake:
What sort of
man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? (Matt 8:27)
They are both
shocked and afraid that Jonah can be so disobedient to his God and they try to
make up for his terrible behaviour. The author also emphasises the piety of the
pagan sailors. They are scandalised that Jonah should disobey Yahweh, and are
themselves afraid to offend Yahweh by sacrificing Jonah, and then offer worship
to Jonah’s God whose power they recognise.
And such is the
providence of God. He turns even the disobedience of Jonah into a grace for
those sailors, a grace they would not have experienced had Jonah gone to
Nineveh in the first place—God’s straight writing with crooked lines.
Of course, there
is no evidence that the sailors renounced all their other gods as a result of
this experience. Ancient pagans were ready to recognise the existence and power
of many gods. At the least, however, the sailors acknowledge that the God of
Israel is in control of the present events, that he is the one who both stirred
up and calmed the storm, and that at this moment he is the one to be recognised
and worshipped.
Once again Yahweh
intervenes and arranges that a big fish should swallow Jonah, who remained in
the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. The “big fish” is not
likely to have been a whale, which is not found in the Mediterranean. It is not
to be confused either with ‘Leviathan’, the sinister “serpent” of the sea (see
Amos 9:3) or the “dragon” (see Job 7:12 and other texts).
“Three days and
three nights” may, as in the burial of Jesus (Friday evening to Sunday
morning), refer to a period of time including one full day and parts of two
others. In any case, the New Testament clearly uses Jonah’s experience as a
foreshadowing of the burial and resurrection of Jesus, who was buried in the
earth for “three days and three nights” (Matt 12:40).
While inside the
fish, Jonah made a long prayer of distress and appeal to Yahweh, which is not
included in our readings. And, on the third day, again at the command of
Yahweh, the fish “vomits” Jonah on to dry land.
He is back where
he started. And, not surprisingly, this gives Jonah some time to reflect on his
situation. When the next call comes, he will respond differently—up to a point.
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Commentary on Luke 10:25-37
As we accompany
Jesus firmly on his way to Jerusalem we come across this beautiful incident
which is only to be found in Luke. Imagine our loss if this Gospel had not been
handed down to us. What other treasures of Jesus have we in fact lost over the
centuries?
We are told that a
scribe approached Jesus with the intention of putting him on the defensive and
perhaps making him contradict the teaching of the Law. It is not clear whether
this was just a single attack or part of a conspiracy. The question sounded
simple, the kind that anyone would put to a religious teacher:
What must I do
to inherit eternal life?
As so often
happens, Jesus throws the question back at his interrogator. In fact, as a
scribe, the man should already know the answer and Jesus asks him his opinion.
He replies as a
scribe might be expected to, not in his own words, but quoting two passages
from the Pentateuch, from the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus which say we
are to love God with all our heart and soul and our neighbour as ourselves.
Jesus says in response:
You have given
the right answer; do this, and you will live.
However, the man
is not satisfied:
…wanting to
vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor”?
For him “neighbor”
meant, of course, only other Jews like himself, but did it include every Jew,
even those who did not follow the Law? Was he supposed to love them also?
The answer Jesus
gave must have come as a surprise, not to say a shock. And it came in the form
of a kind of parable. It is the story we know as the parable of the Good
Samaritan. In the eyes of most Jews of the time, such a term would be a
contradiction because it was about someone from Samaria. It would be like
saying someone is a ‘good terrorist’.
It is most likely
(for the story to have meaning) that the man who was set upon by robbers and
left half dead on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho was a Jew. The road from
Jerusalem to Jericho was a distance of about 30 km and involved a drop from
about 800 metres above sea level to about 150 metres below sea level. It ran
through rocky and desert country providing ample opportunity for hidden robbers
to waylay unwitting travellers.
In the story,
three people saw the injured man there. Two of them were religious people,
people expected to be lovers of God and neighbour. Yet both carefully passed by
on the other side. It is most likely that they were going in the opposite
direction, that is, they were on their way from Jericho to Jerusalem and the
Temple. The injured man would have been covered in blood. No one intending to
go to pray in the Temple would dare to become contaminated and made ritually
unclean by coming in contact with blood. In other words, they ignored the man
for religious reasons.
But then a
Samaritan came by. He was, in the eyes of the Jews, an alien and a heretic.
There was strong hostility between the two neighbouring peoples on historical,
geographical, racial and religious grounds. The Samaritan was regarded as a
‘half-breed’ both physically and spiritually. They were ethnically related and
shared some of the Jewish beliefs, but were seen as heretics, ‘half-Jews’. We
remember how surprised the Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob was when she
was spoken to by Jesus, who would have been expected to ignore her.
This despised
outsider, presumed to have nothing of the spirit of God’s mercy and compassion,
gives the Jew lying on the ground the attention that the two other
religious-minded men refuse to give. In fact, the Samaritan went to
extraordinary lengths to take care of the injured man, sparing no expense. Two
silver coins may not seem very much, but it represented two days’ wages and
would have been enough to keep someone for up to two months in a wayside inn.
It is difficult
for us, now in our time, to understand the impact that such a story would have
had on the traditional Jewish listener, not to mention a scribe. In our world
today, it would be something like a Palestinian fighter coming to the help of
an Israeli soldier or vice versa. Perhaps you can think of examples closer to
home.
The question of
Jesus is interesting:
Which of these
three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the
robbers?
The answer of the
scribe is equally interesting:
The one who
showed him mercy.
The answer then to
the question, “Who is my neighbour?” is not, as we learnt in our catechism,
“Everybody”, though that is true. The answer of Jesus is: A neighbour is
someone who shows compassion to another in need—irrespective of who the helper
or the person in need may be. It is less a question of seeing every other
person as my neighbour, but much more importantly, of my being actively a
neighbour to others, not on the basis of their race, nationality, occupation,
gender, skin colour, or beliefs, but on the basis of need. And who does not
need love and compassion?
Finally, in answer
to an academic, theological question, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus tells the
scribe not what or who is his neighbour, but
to:
Go and do
likewise.
In other words, to
go and be a neighbour.
The story has a
secondary lesson for us about stereotyping. For the Jews there was the negative
stereotype of the Samaritan (which was probably reciprocated). Our world today
is full of stereotypes. We have stereotypes of practically every race and ethnic
group and skin colour, every gender and political persuasion, and they can
influence our attitudes deeply and often unconsciously.
With regard to
race, certainly each race can have recognisable characteristics—Jews, Italians,
Irish, Germans, French, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Africans—arising from
language and traditions, but it is an irrational jump to attribute to every
member of a group generalised characteristics. We can never say that “Irish
are…”, or “Chinese are…”, or “Africans are…” There are too many exceptions.
Every single
person has to be approached individually and there are good, bad and
indifferent people to be found in every group, including our own. But they all
have one thing in common: they should be confident of being helped by good neighbours
in their time of need.
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LECTIO
DIVINA: Monday, October 6, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father, your love
for us
surpasses all our
hopes and desires. Forgive our failings, keep us in your peace and lead us in
the way of salvation.
We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 10: 25-37
A lawyer stood up
and, to test Jesus, asked, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' He
said to him, 'What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?' He
replied, 'You must 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.' Jesus said to him, 'You have answered right, do this and life is
yours.' But the man was anxious to justify himself and said to Jesus, 'And who
is my neighbor?' In answer Jesus said, 'A man was once on his way down from
Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of bandits; they stripped him,
beat him and then made off, leaving him half dead. Now a priest happened to be
travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the
other side.
In the same way a
Levite who came to the place saw him, and passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan
traveler who came on him was moved with compassion when he saw him. He went up
to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted
him onto his own mount and took him to an inn and looked after him.
Next day, he took
out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper and said, "Look after
him, and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have."
Which of these
three, do you think, proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the
bandits' hands?'
He replied, 'The
one who showed pity towards him.' Jesus said to him, 'Go, and do the same
yourself.'
Reflection
The Gospel today
presents the parable of the Good Samaritan. To mediate on a parable is the same
thing as to deepen into our life to discover in it the call of God. In
describing the long journey of Jesus to Jerusalem (Lk 9: 51 to 19: 28), Luke
helps the communities to understand better in what the Good News of the Kingdom
consists. He does it by presenting persons who come to speak with Jesus and ask
him questions. These are real questions of the people of the time of Jesus and
they are also real questions of the communities of the time of Luke. Thus,
today in the Gospel, a doctor of the law asks: "What should I do to inherit eternal life?" The response, both
of the doctor and that of Jesus, helps to understand better the objective of
the Law of God.
•
Luke
10: 25-26: "What should I do to
inherit eternal life?" A Doctor, who knew the law wants to test Jesus
and asks him: "What should I do to
inherit eternal life?" The doctor thinks that he has to do something
in order to be able to inherit. He wants to obtain the inheritance through his
own personal effort. But an inheritance is not merited. We receive an
inheritance by the simple fact of being son
or daughter. "Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a
son, then an heir by God's own act." (Ga 4: 7). As sons and daughters,
we can do nothing to merit the inheritance. We can lose it!
•
Luke
10: 27-28: The answer of the Doctor.
Jesus responds asking a new question: "What is written in the Law? The
doctor responds correctly. Uniting two phrases of the Law, he says: "You must 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." This phrase comes from
Deuteronomy (Dt 6: 5) and from Leviticus (Lv 19: 18). Jesus approves the
response and says: "Do this and life
is yours!" What is important, the principal thing is to love God! But
God comes to me in my neighbor. The neighbor is the revelation of God for me.
And because of this, I have to love my neighbor also with all my heart, with
all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind!
•
Luke
10: 29: "And who is my
neighbor?" Wanting to justify himself, the doctor asks: "And who is my neighbor?" He
wants to know: "In which neighbor God comes to me?" That is, which is
the person close to me who is the revelation of God for me? For the Jews the
expression "neighbor" was
linked to the clan, it was not a neighbor. Anyone who did not belong to the
clan was not a neighbor. According to Deuteronomy, they could exploit the
"foreigner," but not the "neighbor" (Dt 15: 1-3). Proximity was based on bonds of race and of
blood. Jesus has a different way of seeing which he expresses in the parable of
the Good Samaritan.
•
Luke
10: 30-36: The parable.
•
Luke
10: 30: The attack along the road of
Jerusalem toward Jericho. The Desert of Judah is between Jerusalem and
Jericho, which is the refuge of rebels, marginalized and attacked. Jesus tells
a real fact which had happened many times. "A man was on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the
hands of bandits; they stripped him, beat him and then made off, leaving him
half dead."
•
Luke 10:
31-32: A priest passed by travelling on
the same road, then a Levite passed by. By chance a priest passed by and,
immediately after a Levite.
They are officials
of the Temple of the official religion. Both of them saw the man who had been
attacked, but passed by, and did nothing. Why did they do nothing? Jesus does
not say it. He allows one to guess with whom to identify oneself. This must
have happened many times, in the time of Jesus as well as in the time of Luke.
This also happens today: a person from the Church goes by close to a poor
person without helping him. It could also be that the priest and the Levite had
a justification: "He is not my neighbor!" or, "he is impure and
if I touch him, I will also be impure." And today: "If I help him, I
will lose the Sunday Mass and will commit a mortal sin!"
•
Luke
10: 33-35: A Samaritan passed by. Immediately
after a Samaritan who was travelling passed by. He saw the man and moved with
compassion, he got close, bandaged his wounds, lifted him onto his own mount
and took him to an inn and looked after him during the night and the following
day he took out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper, that was the
salary of ten days and he tells him: "Look
after him and on my way back I will make good any extra expenses you
have!" This is the concrete and effective action. It is the
progressive action: to arrive, to see, to be moved with compassion, to get
close and to act. The parable says "A
Samaritan who was travelling." Jesus was also travelling up to Jerusalem.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. The communities should be the Good Samaritan.
•
Luke
10: 36-37: Which of these three do you
think proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the bandits'
hands?" At the beginning the Doctor had asked: "Who is my neighbor?" Behind the question was the concern
for him. He wanted to know: God orders me to love whom, in a way to be able to
have my conscience in peace and be able to say, I have done everything that God
has asked me to do." Jesus asks another question: "Which of these three do you think proved himself a neighbor to
the man who fell into the hands of the bandits?" The condition of
neighbor does not depend on the race, on the fact that they are relatives, on
sympathy, on closeness or on religion. Humanity is not divided into neighbor
and not neighbor. To know who is our neighbor depends on us: to arrive, to see,
to be moved with compassion and to get close. If you get close, the other
becomes your neighbor! It depends on
you and not on the other! Jesus overturns everything and takes away from the
Doctor the security which could come to him from the Law.
•
The Samaritans. The word Samaritan comes from Samaria, the
capital of the Kingdom of Israel in the North. After the death of Solomon, in
the year 1931 before Christ, the ten tribes of the North separated themselves
from the kingdom of Judea in the South and formed an independent kingdom (1K
12: 1-33). The Kingdom of the North survived approximately for 200 years. In
722, its territory was invaded by Assyria. A large part of its population was
deported (2K 17: 5-6) and people from other places went to Samaria (2K 17: 24).
There was a mixture of races and of religions (2K 17: 25-33), and the
Samaritans were born from these. The Jews of the South despised the
Samaritans
considering them unfaithful and adorers of false gods (2K 17: 3441). Many
prejudices existed against the Samaritans. They were not well accepted. It was
said of them that they had an erroneous doctrine and did not form part of the
People of God. Some even went so far as to say that to be a Samaritan was
something of the Devil (Jn 8: 48). Most probable, the cause of this hatred was
not only a question of race and of religion, but it was also a
political-economic problem, linked to the possession of the land. This rivalry
lasted even in the time of Jesus. But Jesus places the Samaritans as a model
for others.
Personal Questions
• The Samaritan of the parable was not of the
Jewish people, but he did what Jesus asks. Does this happen today? Do you know
people who do not go to Church but live what the Gospel asks? Today, who are
the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan?
• The Doctor asks: "Who is my
neighbor?" Jesus asks: "Who was the neighbor of the man who was the
victim of the bandits"? There are two different points of view: the doctor
asks starting from himself. Jesus asks starting from the needs of the other.
Which is my perspective or point of view?
Concluding Prayer
I give thanks to
Yahweh with all my heart,
in the
meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly. Great are the deeds of Yahweh,
to be pondered by
all who delight in them. (Ps 111: 1-2)
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