Word to the Wise
Monday, October 8, 2007 - Twenty-seventh Monday in Ordinary Time
[Jonah 1:1-2:1-2, 11 and Luke 10:25-37]"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, "God and do likewise."
On one level the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan seems quite simple. One out of three guys stops to help the robbery victim. The helper, a Samaritan, is a surprise, but what is important is not who he is but what he does. He shows mercy. The others don't. True disciples should show mercy and help others. End of story! However, that would ignore a huge cultural and religious context if we just stop there. The story begins with a recital of the covenant law of mercy: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The question, "Who is my neighbor?" really opens the door to Jesus' teaching. The issue has to do with who belongs to God's covenant community and is therefore entitled to mercy. A Jew is ordinarily a Jew by birth. The same was true of a Samaritan! By the Lawyer's calculation, only members of the Chosen People are bound by the covenant and are worthy of receiving the love in the commandment. Jesus' response, in the parable, forces the Lawyer to admit that two members of the Chosen People, a priest and Levite, failed to show mercy as commanded and a non-member (in fact, a hated Samaritan) did show mercy. As far as Jesus is concerned, God's holy people are those who follow the law of mercy. In the light of the cultural context, it might be important to ask ourselves what criteria we use in our response to the needs of others. Do we act strictly according to the need? Or do we act according to the identity of the recipient, especially if they're of a different race, religion, political party, sexual orientation, etc? Who is"worthy" of mercy in our eyes? AMEN
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