Who is my neighbor?

Perspectives on Scripture

July 10: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dt 30:10-14; Col 1:15-20; Lk 10:25-37

The story of the Good Samaritan is among the best known of all of Jesus’ parables. At its heart is Jesus’ characteristic teaching that the very center of God’s law is the love command — loving God with all your heart and soul and, closely related, loving your neighbor as yourself.

This teaching of Jesus is found in each of the synoptic Gospels but in a different setting. In Mk 12:28-34 a sincere scribe is listening to Jesus’ teaching with admiration and asks him the key question: “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus responds by citing the beautiful text from the Book of Deuteronomy that is recited daily by observant Jews: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’’’

The scribe is deeply moved by Jesus’ answer and praises him. Jesus himself sees that this is a good man and tells him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

In Matthew’s Gospel this same story has a different mood. One of Jesus’ opponents — a lawyer — poses the question about which commandment is the greatest “to test him.” Jesus responds as he does in Mark’s version, reciting the love command and concluding by saying “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The story we hear today from Luke’s Gospel picks up the hostile mood found in Matthew’s account — Jesus is being tested by a lawyer. He poses a seemingly sincere question, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus takes him at his word and asks the lawyer to answer the question himself: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

The lawyer repeats word for word the two-fold love command of God and neighbor as Jesus had taught it. The lawyer was not interested in the right answer but wanted to put Jesus on the spot. So he asks further, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds to that key question with the incisive parable of the Good Samaritan.

Everyone knows the story — a man is severely beaten and robbed, left “half dead” on the side of the road. The priest and a Levite (those who assisted the priests in the Temple) pass by but cross to the other side of the road (Afraid to touch what might be someone impure and thus be ineligible for temple service? Or simply not wanting to be involved?). But a Samaritan — a group traditionally despised by other Jews — does the right thing. “Moved with compassion,” he treats the man’s wounds, takes him to an inn, provides for his care and pledges to return to make sure all is well.

Jesus drives the point home. “Which of these three was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The lawyer can only reply, “The one who treated him with mercy.” What had begun with the lawyer wanting to trip up Jesus ends with a searing lesson, “Go and do likewise.”

Some historians of the Holocaust have noted how in many cases it was ordinary people who carried out atrocities as part of their everyday “duty” and never seemed to be bothered by it. As some have described it, this is the “banality of evil.”

But others have noted the opposite behavior — what we could call the “banality of goodness.” Many ordinary people risked their lives to save their Jewish neighbors instinctively, without pondering the heroic nature of what they were doing. As one woman who sheltered a Jewish family who had knocked on her door for help said, “How could I turn them away? They were neighbors.”

This is the spirit of Jesus’ teaching in our Scriptures for this Sunday. The love command becomes genuine when we treat each other with compassion and mercy, even if it means a risk for ourselves and our comfort. The searing power of Jesus’ teaching is found here.