Today’s Gospel (Luke 10:25-37) presents us with an interaction between Jesus and an unnamed scribe. This discussion centres on neighbourhood. A brief background to the text would do.
- The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a dangerous way to travel.
- It is about 25km & about 2, 200 feet below sea level.
- This road is known as the “Way of Blood” because of the blood which is often shed there by robbers.
With this understanding, let’s delve into the text:
- An unnamed man is on a journey. He is on a move. He is definitely going somewhere for something.
Like this man, make a movement. Leave where you are to a different place. You can’t remain in that same position & expect a different result. Move with faith, move with determination, move with joy, move with a purpose.
- Sadly, this man is attacked by robbers. He is robbed of his possessions. He is beaten. He is almost left dead. This should be unfortunate.
Why the attack? What did this man do to deserve this? Did this man not know about the danger of this road? Did he know, yet threw caution to the wind? The fact is, this man was attacked & this is indicative of the following:
- We live in a world in which people are attacked almost everyday. Should we allow this to continue? This story is a call to authorities to help control attack by robbers. Security agents be deployed on all major roads, the need for good roads, etc.
- From the story, this unnamed man travelled alone. There were no people with him. If he travelled with others, they would have repelled this attack. This is a call for all travellers to be security conscious.
- There would have been no robbery without the operation of these robbers. If robbers would not act, how safe the world would be. This story is a call for robbers to repent.
- Would the robbers attack the man if he were their father, brother, relation, etc? No to a bigger probability! If no, why do this to another person? This is the message: do to no one what you don’t want done to you. What you want done to you because it is right, do to others.
- A Priest & a Levite found this injured man. Shockingly, these two eminent men of religion passed over this injured man. That is, they were irresponsive to the plight of this dying man. They could have helped, but didn’t.
Why these reactions? Were they afraid of being attacked? Did they not see the man in pain? Did they think that it was a set-up? Did they have personal issues with the man? The fact of the matter is that, they abandoned a human being in pain.
This is the lesson: Never pass over anybody in pain. You need not know someone before you help him or her. Today, you are fine. That is good! Tomorrow, you will be in pain. Let the effects of pain hit you then you will know what it means to be abandoned in pain. Don’t be like this Priest or Levite.
- Strangely, a Samaritan attends to the Jew. This unnamed Samaritan does to the Jew what this Jews own fellow Jews could not do to him. Per the frosty relationship between Jews & Samaritans, this Samaritan could have passed by like the Priest or Levite, but such was never the case. He broke the barrier, he valued human life over & above everything, he proved to be a neighbour, he is a true definition of what it means to be a human being
What is the point? Life is all about being like this Samaritan. Help someone, sacrifice for people, be kind to people. Simply put, be human! If there’s anything you can do for a person, do it now.
- Did the Samaritan blow his trumpet in terms of his good deeds? Did he go about telling people what he did for the Jew? No! The Samaritan was silent about everything.
The point is this: it is good to do good to people, but it’s not good to proclaim your goodness to humanity. Your goodness loses it’s relevance if your sole aim is to make noise about it. If the beneficiary of your goodness will not talk about it, don’t worry because your goodness will speak for itself in its own way. Imitate this Samaritan!
It is well…..