Monday in the 27th Week of Ordinary Time, October 4, 2021

The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Luke 10:25-37

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus 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.”

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  This question, like the one about marriage, also posed by a Pharisee, are very basic, and yet the Lord’s answers to them pose very serious dilemmas for the people to whom he gave them.  Here, Jesus answers the Pharisee’s question with a question: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”  Although this may sound like verbal sparring, it is a typical method of teaching in the Ancient Near East.  The Pharisee relies, “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.”  It is the Lord who originally joined these two commandments together, as we see in Matthew 22, 39.  It would seem that this Pharisee had heard the Lord do this, or it had been reported to him, and he answers with the Lord’s own words, perhaps in an attempt to gain his praise.  Jesus does not take this bait.  Very simply, almost curtly, he says to the man: “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”  St. Luke tells us, “But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “‘And who is my neighbor?’ ”  The Pharisee wanted Jesus to give him an answer to which he could say, I have done this.  At that point he thought the Lord would have to praise him as a righteous man who would be saved.  He certainly did not expect the Lord to tell a parable that would put him on the spot.  Yet that is just what the Lord does.  After the telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus looked the Pharisee in the eye and asked, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”  The answer is obvious from the parable, but it grates on the Pharisee to say that a Samaritan could be the “neighbor” of a Jew, and so he answers, “The one who treated him with mercy.”  It is hard to imagine him looking Jesus in the eye as he says this.  And then Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”  But what does this mean?  Jesus is telling the man to actively look for people to show compassion to.  He does not merely say, now, “Do this and you shall live”.  He says, “Go,” as though commanding the man to do something very specific.  

Love of neighbor cannot be an abstract rule for us, but a law that causes us to look for ways to help others.  Spouses and parents and children should often say “I love you” to each other, and they should perform acts, even small ones, that confirm this.  As Christians we should seek opportunities to show love with the people God puts in our path each day.  We will find few in as dire a situation as the Jewish man who was left for dead by robbers, but we do not have to wait for grave emergencies to show love.  We can do this in all sorts of ways.  The Holy Spirit will help us with his inspirations.