Sunday Meditation: The Good Samaritan

For the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year C, we come to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  You know this parable quite well I suspect, mainly because as Moses says in the first reading, the moral is written in your heart.  You have heard the parable and it connects with the law written in your heart.

 

 

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."

   ~Lk 10:25-37

 

Since you know the parable so well, I am going to provide a homily that provides the allegorical interpretation.  This is Fr. Ryan Murphy E.P. of the Heralds of the Gospel, which is not a religious order but a religious association.  You can read about them here. 

 

So the wounded man is analogous to Adam, the oil and wine to the sacraments, the Good Samaritan to Jesus, and the Inn the Catholic Church.  An interesting reading.

This is one of the best pastoral homilies you will ever hear.  Fr. Mike Schmitz hits a homerun ith this.  You will not want to miss this.

That study at Princeton was mind blowing.  I totally relate to those students.  “When we rationalize, we wind up telling ourselves rational lies.”  Remember that!

 

 

Sunday Meditation: "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."

 

 

No hymn today, just a dramatization of the parable by the Jesus Film.

 

They took liberties but I love the touch of the little girl speaking the moral at the end.