Today's Gospel, Luke 10: 25-37, presents the story of the Good Samaritan. We may think of the Good Samaritan as Jesus and the wounded person as ourselves. By being caught in Satan's web of constant lies and being slaves of sin--selfishness, greediness, lustfulness, deceitfulness, pride, hatred, racism, judgementalism and other sinful behaviors--we lie in the ditches of life half dead, bleeding, beaten down, wounded, weakened and in need of healing. Jesus, the Compassionate One, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, sent not condemn the world but to save it, is not going to walk by us, ignore us, or be too busy or too holy for us. No! Jesus stops, binds up our wounds and cares for us so that we may be made whole again, provided that we co-operate with His efforts. Are we willing to change our behaviors, our attitudes and walk the Way God points out to us through Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospels?
We may also read this Gospel story and see ourselves as the Levite, the priest or the Samaritan. The Levite and the priest past the wounded man, the person in need--in fact they cross the road and walk on the other side--not wanting to become unclean, according to Jewish law, and not be able to perform their religious duties! Do we find excuses to not help our neighbors in need? Or are we, in fact, the good Samaritan who renders assistant to the wounded in our midst: in our homes, our streets, our churches, our places of employment?
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