WHOSE SAMARITAN AM I CALLED TO BE?

SABBATH

Traveling with a group of pilgrims down the ancient road from Jerusalem to Jericho, I understood much better the background of the parable of the Good Samaritan. My God, what a wilderness! Right and left, there was nothing but desolate desert, deep ravines, huge boulders at the roadside. One can imagine bandits lurking there to attack innocent travelers. To be left there after an attack would have meant certain death in the desert heat if no one comes along to take care of him.

This parable is a very touching story of how a Samaritan man cared for the poor wounded man on the road. But I am sure that after Jesus told the parable, He had to go into hiding. It is one of the most explosive stories Jesus ever told. Imagine, a Levite, a Temple servant, passes by without helping. Then a priest on his way home from serving in the Temple ignores the man as well. Surely, they made excuses for not helping. And who helped? A Samaritan, hated by the Jews for not being pure Jewish and ritually clean! A despised person becomes the hero. In today’s world, it is like a priest and bishop would pass by an injured person at the roadside and a prostitute on her way home from her nightly business would take care of him, bringing him to the next hospital, paying for the wounded person from what she had earned during the night. Jesus really challenges us with this parable in an uncompromising way. In effect, He tells us: When a person, a child of God like you, is in need, don’t fall into the trap and rationalize away the need by using bad excuses. And your neighbour becomes anyone in need, even a person you do not know or a person whom you do not like, or a person who has hurt you. The needs vary. Many might need only a smile or a kind word. Can we not even give this because we are too busy or we have to go out of our way? Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD   Reflection Question: What makes me ignore a person in need? Is it selfishness? Don’t I like to be disturbed? Do I forget that a person in need might be You?   Lord, You have pricked my conscience. Too often do I pretend to have valid excuses for not helping. I am wrong. You, my “Good Samaritan,” help me to be one to anybody in need.   St. Widradus, pray for us.