Gospel:
Luke 10:25-37
There was
a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I
do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How
do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all
your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your
mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered
correctly; do this and you will live.” But because he wished to justify
himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell
victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and
beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down
that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a
Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite
side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at
the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and
bandaged them. Then he
lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The
next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the
instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I
shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was
neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with
mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
+ + + + +
+ +
Reflection:
Is there
such a word as perfect love? Yes, there is it’s when we are able to live our
love for God and neighbor. To love God is to worship Him with all our being and
to love our neighbor is to humanize our love for God.
It was
very ironic that the priest who was supposed to be a lover of God failed to
humanize his love for God same as with the Levite who was also involved in the
service for God. Both the priest and the Levite failed the test of true love
and discipleship because they simply ignored the man in need of their help.
They
might have reasons for ignoring the man in need but whatever reasons that they
may have don’t justify their indifference. What if the Samaritan did not pass
by? The victim may have died due to the indifference of the two.
It was
good that the exemplar of perfect love (Samaritan) passed by otherwise the
victim might have bleed to his death.
Many of
us who love and worship God fails to translate this love to a love for our
fellowmen, some of us are able to translate this love for God to a love for our
neighbor but we oftentimes limit our love for our neighbor to those whom we
only know and to those who are only good to us.
If the
person in need of our help is alien and not good to us we just pass them by and
ignore them just like what the priest and Levite did. Jesus urges us to follow
the example of the Good Samaritan who exemplified prefect love, who took care
of the victim even if he doesn’t know him.
Are you
willing to listen to this urgings of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment