The Divine Samaritan

Fifteenth Sunday of the Year. Fr Benedict Jonak offers an ancient yet fresh interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan.

There is a lot that happens in today’s world, a lot that we do as the Church, that finds its inspiration in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

There are many Catholics, for example, who are directly involved in the plight of refugees, or bring relief to people trapped in war zones. Of course we are all involved in these works through spiritual and financial support, as the Church remains the largest provider of humanitarian aid world wide.

The parable of the Good Samaritan lies at the heart of what we as Christians do to bring help and relief to others, also to those who are not people of the faith. But this parable says more that this. It gives us an insight into the mind of God, so to speak, because it speaks first about God and his Christ.

This is, in fact, how the Fathers of the Church interpret it in the first place.

The man, who was lying by the road, wounded, is Adam. Or if you like, the whole humanity. He was wounded, because his free will was damaged by the fall, and he could no longer set his heart on God.

Neither the priest or the Levite could help him. They stand for the Prophets and the Law.

It was God himself, who in Christ took on the human nature, and rescued the fallen man, washed his wounds and bound them, and entrusted him to the care of his own community, that of the Church, that the community might continue caring for him with his Sacraments, until the day of his return.

What is at the heart of this interpretation is not so much our attitude towards helping non-Christians, but God’s plan of salvation. God could have saved the fallen humanity in a myriad different ways. He could have started the creation from scratch. He could have brought another universe into being, a universe in which God lived in peace with a perfect humanity. But this is not what he has done. God came to rescue the fallen man, saved him, and restored him to perfection through the death and resurrection of Christ. This is what happens to us in baptism, when we are sacramentally buried with Christ, so that we may rise with him again. For baptism is, amongst other things, ‘not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience’ (1 Peter 3:21), which enables us to answer the call that has always been close to us. The call to love and to care. This work of charity is done in co-operation with the wounded man himself and in the community of believers, in the body of Christ.

God’s plan of salvation is no magic. It does not simply do things to us, while we remain passive. The first step of God’s plan is that we love him again. That we make a decision to live with him in friendship, that we see him as a goal of our lives. This certainly requires our commitment, a free decision. Then, when this relationship is established, we can learn how to love ourselves and how to love and care forr others, including those, who have not answered God’s call yet.

Today, let us rejoice, that we have an active plan in the history of salvation – that God has made us to know him, to love him and to work with him. And this invitation transcends any divisions that we may have put up in our world.

Readings: Deuteronomy 30:10-14 | Colossians 1:15-20 | Luke 10:25-37

Image: detail from ‘The Good Samaritan’ by Luigi Sciallero (1854) via Wikimedia Commons