Gospel for Sunday, July 10 Luke 10: 25-37
XV Sunday C
25A lawyer stood up to test him: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26Jesus said to him: “What is written in the Law? What do you read there?” 27He replied: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28And Jesus: “You answered well; do this and you will live.” 29But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?”. 30Jesus continued: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into bandits who stripped him, beat him and then went away, leaving him half dead. 31By chance, a priest was going down that same road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32Even a Levite, arriving at that place, saw him and passed on. 33Instead, a Samaritan, who was travelling, passing by him, saw him and had compassion for him. 34He came near him, bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine; then, putting him on his donkey, he took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The following day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying: Take care of him and whatever you spend in addition, I will reimburse you when I return. 36Which of these three do you think was the neighbor of the one who fell into the bandits?”. 37He replied: “Who had compassion on him.” Jesus said to him: “Go and you too do the same”.
Luke 10: 25-37
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Misericordie, I am Carlo Miglietta, doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it).
Also today I share with you a short meditation thought on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
The great journey of Jesus towards Jerusalem described to us by Luke is simultaneously a time of retreat, of personal confrontation with the Father (10, 21-24) and above all of training of the disciples.
The theme of discipleship continues with a question posed by a doctor of the Law who asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus’ response, with the parable “of the good Samaritan”, who comes close and helps “a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho” and who had suffered a violent robbery, indicates what the conduct of the true disciple should be. The road that connects Jerusalem, 740 m above sea level, to Jericho, 350 m below sea level, crosses a desert area full of ravines, an ideal refuge for lurking robbers. For Flavius Josephus, “brigands” are the Zealots, anti-Roman partisans who lived in hiding and supplied themselves with some sudden attacks on travellers.
The doctor of the Law, “wanting to justify himself (dikaiōsai), said to Jesus: «And who is my neighbor?»” (Lk 10,29): “The Greek verb dikaiōsai belongs to Paul’s typical language and recalls the decisive theological question of the “justification” faced by the first Christian community” (C. Doglio). Luke was a collaborator, as well as “the dear doctor” (Col 4.14) of Paul, the theologian of justification by grace alone. The doctor of the Law seeks justification from works, from the observance of precepts: Jesus instead will propose God’s mercy without limits or rules.
“At the time of Jesus, the question of who the neighbor was was debated at length and ranged from: a) a more restricted interpretation such as: «the neighbor is the one who belongs to my clan, to my family, to my tribe»; b) the broader one which supported: “the neighbor is anyone who lives in Israel”; c) finally, with the very broad one which supported: «the neighbor is also the foreigner who lives within the borders of Israel»” (A. Maggi).
Jesus shifts the problem: for him the theme is no longer: “Who deserves to be loved by me? Who is my friend?”, but: “Whose neighbor am I? Who am I close to?”. The question for him is not to ask us who our neighbor is, but to make ourselves close to everyone we meet, as the Samaritan does, presented by Jesus, with great scandal for the Jews, as an example of goodness and fidelity to the true spirit of the Law. The Samaritans were in fact, for the Jews, heretics, excommunicated: when, in 721 BC. C., there was the deportation of the Jews to Assyria, the new conquerors, according to the well-known policy of divide and conquer, forcibly imported populations from other parts of the Empire into Israel. These people, by marrying Jewish women who remained in Palestine, not only contaminated the “ethnic purity” of Israel, but brought with them their cults of traditional divinities, which in a syncretistic manner they ended up merging with the faith in IHWH (2 Kings 17.24- 41).
In the parable, a priest and a Levite avoid helping the wounded man, perhaps not so much out of hardness of heart, but rather out of the desire to maintain their own cultic purity. In fact, it was prescribed for those who served in the temple to keep themselves pure, and blood defiled. But for Jesus even worship and doctrinal positions must be subordinated to charity: the purity that God wants is that of the heart, not the physical one, integrity is not the doctrinal one, but the totality of loving.
It is said of both the priest and the Levite that they “pass over” (Lk 10,31-32): anti-par-èrchomai means a movement “alongside”, para, but “to the other side”, antì. The Samaritan, however, “passed by him (elthen kat’autòv)… He came close to him (proselthòn)… When I return (epanèrchestha) I will reimburse you” (Lk 10,33-35): the verb érchomai, to go, is modulated in various ways: from “passing by him” in v. 33 we arrive at the “coming near” of v. 34 and the “return” of v. 35: the same verb érchomai is specified first by katà, next, and then by pros, near, next, then by ep-an, again, again: it is a true progression on the path of compassion and solidarity.
The doctor of the Law, an intelligent person, immediately understood the theological innovation proposed by Jesus: it is not important how much the other is in relationship with me, it is important that I enter into a relationship with the other!
“Jesus tells this doctor of the Law to become a neighbor to others, that is, to orient one’s life towards the good of others and ensure that love is translated into service to others… The believer is he who resembles God, practicing a love similar to his; it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t believe much, doesn’t pray, doesn’t observe, but what’s important is the attitude he has towards others. Whoever acts by loving, whoever acts by serving, there is the true believer in the eyes of the Lord…, because Jesus does not ask for observance of the law, but for similarity to his love for him” (A. Maggi).
“Jesus said to him: «Go and do the same (homòios)»” (Lk 10,25-37). The last word of the story is homòios, “equally”: the story has exemplary value, it is a model to imitate. In reality “the Samaritan adopts the feelings and takes up the gestures of Christ himself” (F. Bovon). Jesus is the model of mercy and generosity that the Gospels propose to us and, as Preface VIII of the Mass proclaims, “even today as a Good Samaritan he comes alongside every man wounded in body and spirit and pours the oil of consolation and the wine of hope”.
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.