Overview:

Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

“And who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29) 

Find today’s readings here.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is a warning against hate. It is also a call to compassion that provides insight on the nature of eternal life. And by centering the listener’s attention on the beneficence of a Samaritan, Jesus bluntly warns his disciples not to give in to the confusions of the human mind.

Conflict between Jews and Samaritans had a long history. It began over nine hundred years before Jesus’ birth when many of Israel’s northern tribes withdrew their loyalty from David’s grandson, King Rehoboam. This left Rehoboam king only of the tribe of Judah, the ancestors of the Jews. The northern tribes established their capital in Samaria; their descendants are called the Samaritans even today. After this split, centuries of war and political intrigue followed, punctuated by short periods of peace and unity. Foreign conquerors like the Babylonians and Persians exploited historical animosities to keep both Jews and Samaritans weak. By Jesus’ day, nearly centuries of bad memories poisoned the relationship between the two peoples.

Neither people had lost their religious traditions, however. Both revered Moses and worshipped Israel’s ancient God. Both peoples believed Lv 19:16-18 was a divine command: “You shall not stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” By presenting the image of a Samaritan traveler, Jesus crafted a character who knew the demands of righteousness as completely as any Jewish person would. He also crafted a character freighted with a millennium of historical baggage. 

Imagine the discomfort of Jesus’ listeners when the hero of the narrative turned out not to be a Jewish man but a Samaritan. The Good Samaritan knew all the precepts of the Law of Moses. Even more, he knew that all those individual commandments pointed to a deeper divine command to be compassionate.

Jesus’ parable teaches the importance of compassion in the life of discipleship. It also teaches, however, the danger of hate. To the question, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus offers a response that includes any human being who lives in a compassionate way regardless of our personal experience with them or the history of conflict between our peoples.

Many of Jesus’ disciples today have their own “Samaritans,” people who inspire feelings of animosity. These might be political or social adversaries or relatives and neighbors with whom one has difficulty seeing eye-to-eye. Remembering that today’s “Samaritans” can also inherit eternal life if God finds compassion in them can perhaps teach each of us to overcome our own habits of hatred. In doing so, we too can fulfill the deeper commandment of God’s law, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Michael R. Simone, S.J., is contributing editor at America and pastor of Gesù Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.