Sunday Reflections
- There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him 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”(Lk10:25:37).
- The commandments of God are known to every practising religious Jewish person at the time of Jesus. Moses in the book of Deuteronomy (30:10-14) that we had in today’s first reading says that the commandments are not difficult to understand. All that is needed is the willingness to put them into practice. The Jews believed, following the teachings of Moses that obeying the commandments brings health, wealth and life.
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What then is the reason for the young man’s question to Jesus in today’s gospel? The gospel writer noted that the man simply wanted to put Jesus to test. Knowing his mind Jesus made him to recite the summarized formula of the commandments that are taught in catechetical classes. But still wanting to justify himself as one who knows it all he asked a second question: and who is my neighbour? In his head he believed that Jesus will tell him that his neighbour is his Jewish brothers and he will then boast that he has always loved them. But Jesus used the opportunity to teach him a perspective of neighborhood that he never knew. He told the story of the Good Samaritan.
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With this story Jesus passed a number of messages:
•Those who pretend to be religious in outlook may be lacking in brotherhood and love as was the case of the priest and levite in the gospel.
•Those that we look down on as enemies of God may actually be the ones who are close to him by their concrete acts of love.
•The neighbour is anyone in need of our help.
•Love for neighbour is not mere expression of sympathy. It demands the courage to take risk for the betterment of others and the generosity to spend one’s own resources for the good of an unknown person.
- Today people seek their tribal and ethnic or religious advantages instead of seeking the common good and seeing everyone as a brother in humanity. This has multiplied the number of those falling by the road side and the roads to Jericho continues to emerge in every corner of the earth. Nigeria has become a big road to Jericho where citizens are daily beaten up, striped and left half dead while the leaders represented in the gospel by the priest and levite, continue their way without stopping to give a helping hand. Policies that impoverish the masses are daily made and implemented. Instead of working for all to have good drinking water, a few have worked to make sure that they continue drinking champagne while the majority dies of thirst. Today’s gospel challenges us not only to care for those who fall by the road to Jericho but also and most importantly to ensure security on the road to Jericho so that no one is ever again robbed, beaten and left half dead on that road.
The road to Jericho is not far from you. It is there in your family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood and even in your church. Do your best to extend your love and charitable concerns beyond your circle of acquaintances and friends. Make sure that your personal decisions could not lead to anyone falling by the roadside. Make decisions that will contribute in making the road to Jericho safer for all. ©Vita,
10/07/22.
anaehobiv@yahoo.com
