Luke 10:25-37
A man fell victim to robbers as he went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho.
The moral
of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (which is true history insofar as it
relates events common to that time and place) is readily apparent to all – we
are not meant to search out reasons why we shouldn’t help someone in need, but
rather we out to look for every excuse to reach out and give succor to the
desperate.
The
Fathers of the Church, together with the great Catholic theologians, go further
and read this passage in the mystical sense – recognizing the fall of man, his
redemption in Christ, the establishment of the Church, and the prediction of
the Second Coming. We rely especially on the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas
and the Great Commentary of Fr. Cornelius a Lapide.
We will
comment upon this passage, placing the words of Scripture in bold
italics and the commentary below each portion of the text.
A man
fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
This man
represents Adam, or all of humanity, who abandoned the state of original grace
(Jerusalem) and gave himself over to love of the low things of earth (Jericho).
Again, Jerusalem represents Eden, and Jericho represents the world.
The
robbers are demons and the devil himself, who attack man in his journey through
life. When a man gives into the temptations of the devil, he is said to fall victim to him.
They
stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
Man is
stripped of the state of grace when he falls victim to temptation and commits
sin. He is beaten and wounded by the devil insofar as his will is weakened and
he is made a slave of sin.
The
sinner is left half-dead insofar as
his soul is now “dead” as having lost the supernatural life of the state of
grace, while the body yet retains natural life. The greater half of man (his
soul) is dead, while the lower half (the body) lives – so long as life remains
in the body, there is yet hope for his conversion.
A priest
happened to be going down that road […] likewise a Levite came to the place.
The
priest represents Moses and Aaron, that is the Law. While the Levite signifies
the prophets. Neither the Law nor the prophets could bring salvation to the
human race – but the Law was given not to heal sin, but rather to convict man
of sin. Thus, the priest and the Levite passed by on the opposite side of the
road to indicate the sin present in the world, but they had no power to cure
sin or restore grace.
But a
Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
The
Samaritan traveler is Christ, who likewise came
down insofar as he descended from heaven to be one with us. He is a traveler, as he descended from heaven
and would ascend again to heaven – not making his true home to be upon the
earth. Christ was moved with compassion
even has he had pity on the people who were like sheep without a shepherd, who
were wounded and had no physician.
Jesus
looked upon the human race wounded and half-dead (that is, devoid of grace)
and, seeing that there was nothing in man to merit salvation and that man had
done and could do nothing to deserve to be restored to grace, he was moved with compassion at the sight
and desired to heal us not because of any preexisting good in ourselves, but
from the abundance of his mercy and compassion.
He
approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Binding
wounds indicates the checking of sins, wine symbolizes the sharpness of
contrition, and oil is the gentleness of mercy. Wine washes away what has been
corrupted, oil strengthens what is good.
Then he
lifted him up on his own animal
The animal represents the flesh of our
Savior which bore up sinful man. To be placed upon the Samaritan’s animal is to
believe in the incarnation of the Lord. Even as the good shepherd carries the
lost sheep upon his shoulders, the Samaritan places the wounded man upon his
animal – and Jesus bore our sins upon his own body, carrying us upon or within
his Sacred Heart.
took him
to an inn, and cared for him.
The inn is the Church, to whom Christ has
entrusted all whom he has forgiven. Do we not see that the encounter with
Christ necessarily brings man to communion with his Church?
The next
day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the
instruction, ‘Take care of him.
The two silver coins are the commandments of
love of God and love of neighbor, or the sacramental life (particularly baptism
and the Eucharist).
The innkeeper is the Pope and the pastors of
the Church, to whom Christ has entrusted the sheep he has redeemed. We
recognize the duty of pastors to care for the souls placed under their care –
lest the one who has been saved by Christ should again fall prey to robbers and
be wounded anew.
If you
spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’
The Lord
will return again on the Day of Judgment, in his Second Coming. When Jesus does
return to judge the living and the dead, the faithful servant will receive his
reward for all his labors in the vineyard of the Lord.
Father Cornelius
a Lapide quotes Origen on this passage:
“A
certain preacher thus interprets the parable. The man who went down from
Jerusalem is Adam: Jerusalem is Paradise, Jericho the world. The thieves are
the powers which are against us. The priest is the law, the Levite, the
prophets. The Samaritan is Christ. The beast whereon he sat, the body of the
Lord, i.e. His humanity. The inn the Church. By the two pieces of money we may
understand the Father and the Son, and by the host, the head of the Church, him
to whom governance is committed. The return of the Samaritan is the second
coming of the Lord.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Listen online [here]!
The Old Testament reading for the Office of Readings for the 15th Sunday in ordinary time is from 1 Kings and reminds us that Jericho was a city cursed by Joshua at its fall and rebuilt in the time of King Ahab at the cost of two of the sons of the man who rebuilt it, as Joshua had prophesied. This parable is the only one recorded in the Gospels that Jesus locates in a specific place, thus suggesting that the place names should be taken in a symbolic sense.
ReplyDelete