Scripture Reflection, July 15: The Good Samaritan

Scripture Readings:
Deuteronomy 30: 10-14
Psalm 69 or Psalm 19
Colossians 1: 15-20
Luke 10: 25-37

During the first few centuries of Christianity, many famous teachers loved to tell the story that we hear in this Sunday’s Gospel – the parable of the Good Samaritan. We find it in the sermons of Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, and other “greats” of the early Church. In re-telling this parable, they gave a name to the fictional character in the story. They put a face on the Good Samaritan. The name they gave him was Jesus Christ. They recognized in him the face of their crucified and risen Lord, the Lord who is risen with his own wounds – the marks of the crucifixion. For these saints, it was Jesus himself who was the first and preeminent Good Samaritan. The man who was robbed, beaten and left half-dead by the roadside represented the human family. We belong to a wounded humanity, scarred by sin and division, by the pain we inflict on one another. The Samaritan, the one who stops and draws near, is Christ, the Son of God who became incarnate. He drew near to us in order to become our neighbor. Christ, this Good Samaritan, bears our sins and even grieves for us. He comes to the wounded man and brings him to the inn for healing. For many of these ancient preachers, the inn represented the Church. They understood the Church as a place of healing meant to open its doors to all and to offer its care to those who have been wounded and left by the roadside in life.

As we pray with this familiar Gospel this Sunday, we may be helped by recalling this ancient interpretation of the parable. It is a tradition that speaks to us first and foremost about who Christ has been and is for us. It also reminds us who Christ calls us to be for others.

Christ is the one who stops for each one of us as we lie by the roadside in our own need. He is the one who has drawn near to us by becoming flesh, so as to become our neighbor. And he remains our neighbor at our side. It is the faithful and compassionate Jesus, the one ever close to us, who is moved with compassion at the sight of each of us. He approaches us, tends our wounds, and lifts us up. Christ does this for us in moments of anxiety and confusion, when we need the peace which he offers us. He approaches us with compassion in those times when we need forgiveness. He is the Good Samaritan when we are facing illness, dealing with the loss of a loved one, and in countless other circumstances.

The healing that Christ offers us is not magical. It is not like “divine plastic surgery” that makes the wounds we bear simply disappear. Many of the wounds and the burdens that we bear are things with which we struggle for many years in our lives. Often the scars from those wounds remain within us. The healing that Christ most often offers us is the hope and the energy that enables us to go forward in life. His faithful presence enables us to move into the future with renewed trust. Because of the presence and compassion of Christ, we do not have to remain imprisoned in the past, fixated on the negative. We can journey on with inner freedom.

Because Christ has stopped for us, and continues to do so, you and I can stop for others. By our baptism, each one of us has been commissioned by Christ to become mediators of his compassion to a good but wounded world. He sends us forth to a world that is holy but also in need of the life and redemption that Christ offers. He sends us to a Church that is holy but also very wounded these days – a Church that needs to be renewed, rebuilt. We live in a society where bitterness and vengeance often seem to triumph over forgiveness. We live and work with people who seem to be imprisoned in their resentments. Christ sends us forth to our homes and neighborhoods where it is all too easy to cultivate prejudice toward those who are different from us. We are missioned to a society in which human life is threatened in all its stages, from conception to natural death. We witness the weak and vulnerable of our society passed by, time and time again.

The world in which we live is in need of Christ the Good Samaritan. And the hands of Christ the Good Samaritan are your hands and my hands. The compassionate gaze of Christ is offered to people of today through our eyes. Christ takes our hands and uses them to tend to the wounds of those who lie by the roadside in our world. Christ the Good Samaritan acts through you and me, as we learn what it means to be neighbor to those around us.

As we celebrate the Eucharist this weekend, I would suggest that we keep two questions in mind. We might want to reflect on these questions during the coming week. First, how have I experienced Christ as Good Samaritan in my life – raising me up, offering me healing and new life when I have been lying by the roadside? As we recall these moments, we should give thanks. Second, who is the person to whom Christ is calling me today to become neighbor? It may be someone in my own home or at my workplace, someone in my neighborhood or parish.

“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.”

Fr. Robin Ryan, cp