WORDS FOR LIFE
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
- In today’s reading from St. Luke, we’ve listened to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
- A teacher of the Law asked Jesus, «What shall I do to receive eternal life?» Jesus replied,»What is written in the Law?» The man answered, «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 you shall love your neighbour as yourself.» Jesus said, «Do this and you shall live.» The man said, «Who is my neighbour?»
- For an Israelite, only Jews can be neighbours – not foreigners. Following this logic, the Samaritan had no legal obligation to attend to the Jew who had been left battered on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Nevertheless, he did.
- The important point here is: not who is my neighbour but the attitude I take to those who need help.
- Jesus fulfills this parable fully because he makes himself a neighbour and friend of all of us by becoming our Saviour in his death and resurrection.
