“Go and do likewise.”
The Gospel for this Sunday is one that is very familiar, even in a secular context: the Good Samaritan. It is the story of a hated foreigner who has compassion on a Jewish man who was robbed and left for dead and was ignored and avoided by his own countrymen. But the context of Jesus telling this story is just as important as the story itself!
For you see, there is a person described as a "scholar of the law" who comes to Jesus and asks him: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus recognizes he is a scholar, and asks him "What do you think?" The man then rattles off the rote answer from scripture, which is certainly good and true, and Jesus acknowledges such. But, Luke tells us "because he wished to justify himself, [the scholar] said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'" That is what prompts the telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Why is this context important? Well, because it reminds us that, while we certainly respect and love the law of God, there is something more important than simply following it to the letter. In the first reading, Moses tells the Israelites that the Law of God, the true law of love, "is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out." It could be said that the two people in the story who pass by the injured man (a priest and a Levite) technically DID follow the letter of the Law, for if they had helped they would have been made unclean and, therefore, unable to preside at the sacrifices in the Temple, an act of love for God. However, Jesus reminds this scholar of the Law, and us, that there are more important things than just the letter of the Law... love and mercy are the most important things, for they reflect God best, who "is love" itself.
Jesus renews the sentiment of Moses when, finishing his story, he asks the scholar: "Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" The scholar answered: "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus then said to him, "Go and do likewise." In saying this, Jesus is telling the scholar and us the central importance of love and mercy. Let us pray this week that, as we go about our business in the world and seek to love God and to love our neighbor as the Law demands, we may remember in all sincerity the word "love," which demands not just strict obedience and obligation, but also mercy.
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