The Good Samaritan
One
The Good Samaritan
We all know the story of the Good Samaritan and we know that it’s supposed to have a very basic moral: do good to people, even when they don’t seem to be your responsibility. Even when you don’t owe them anything, or when it’s someone from a group that considers you an enemy: be generous to them and take care of them, that’s what a true neighbor does
And that’s a true interpretation of the story but we have to ask, who shows this trait the most? Who is the most selfless, the most merciful, the person who always takes the initiative for those in need?
God, of course, God who has taken mercy on us in the person of Jesus Christ.
The parable of the good Samaritan is a story about what we should do for each other. But it’s first of all a story of what Christ has already done for us.
Two
The man on the journey
“There was once a man on a journey,” that’s how this story begins and ultimately, it’s not just talking about a man. The entire human race is on a journey from this life to the next. And this humanity has been set upon by thieves, by the Devil himself, the liar, accuser, deceiver, and murderer.
We were ambushed in the Garden of Eden, we were taken in by the serpent. And we were despoiled of our divine sonship. Our minds and wills were robbed of their keenness and strength. Our feelings and instincts were thrown into complete disarray. And our bodies were riddled with pain and sickness and fatigue and corruption. And that’s how the demon-thieves left us, lying on the road of life, beaten and twisted and unconscious and waiting for death.
And who was there to help us?
Three
A Priest and a Levite passed by
The priest and the Levite represent those who are supposed to have the answers. It’s their job to help us with our problems, to make us right again with God and with ourselves. But they don’t. They can’t.
The Jewish religious leaders hadn’t been able to make the people righteous. They couldn’t save the fallen world. Neither could the Greek or modern philosophers. Neither can the psychologists or the wellness counselors or the self-help authors or the influencers.
These people didn’t make us and they can’t fix us. They come and they go, and they leave humanity pretty much as they found it, sick and dying in the road.
Four
Christ is the foreigner who comes from Heaven to save us.
We had gotten ourselves into this mess. It wasn’t the Lord’s fault we’d opened ourselves to the Devil’s assault. But Christ comes to us, the One who made us, who can remake us, comes to us on our road of life. He raises our humanity, lifts us up, and takes the weight of our problems upon himself, and brings us to a place where we can be taken care of.
In the parable, the Samaritan brings the wounded man to an inn, gives the innkeeper money saying, “Take care of this man till I come back. And if this money runs out, I will compensate you for your trouble when I return.”
Christ has ascended into Heaven but he’s going to come back. And He has left His Church to care for a humanity who is sick in mind and body. The Church is in charge of helping all mankind until Christ’s return. And He will reward us then in the measure that we have carried out our task.
Five
So, who are we supposed to be in this parable?
Well, we can see ourselves in the wounded man, the poor traveler bruised and broken with error and vice and pain, the man who Christ Himself came to save. And we’re supposed to be like the good Samaritan, caring for those we come across.
But, perhaps most of all, we are the members of the Church. The Church isn’t just the Priest and the Parish staff, the Church is also you! We are the innkeepers Christ has entrusted broken humanity to.
That means the Church extends far beyond the walls of the Parish. It extends into your home and workplace and the gym and to everyplace you live your life. That is where you find broken humanity.
Christ has already paid us with His grace, His forgiveness, His unfathomable generosity. He’s promised to pay us even further, if we just take care of one another.
So, stop waiting for your priest to do more. He already probably does more than he should. And stop waiting for a Parish program. It’s time for you to do something for the people God has placed in your life. You are the inn that the Good Samaritan has placed the broken traveler in. So, what are you going to do for them?
Well, you can’t help them until you know them and you can’t know them until you spend time with them regularly. So that is where we must begin, by gathering together a small group of family and friends that we share life and share our faith with regularly.
It might just begin with one person but you must take the initiative and start somewhere. And what do you do? Get to know them, understand them, love and care for them.
That’s what it means to be a member of the Church. That’s what Jesus, the Good Samaritan, will ask us about on the day He comes back to the Inn to see how the stranger He rescued is getting along.