NO GREATER LOVE: THE GOOD SAMARITAN

Chapter seven of Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth deals with the parables of Jesus. After giving us a marvelous introduction to the nature and purpose of parables, Pope Benedict first discusses the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37). In the parable, Jesus tells us of a Jewish man who was beaten and stripped on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Two important people, a priest and a Levite, saw the man who was half-dead and passed by. The priest offered sacrifices to God in the Jerusalem temple and the Levite served in the temple. Then a Samaritan sees the man, has compassion for him, and does what he can to take care of him. Pope Benedict describes the compassion of the Samaritan. The Samaritan, the foreigner, makes himself the neighbor and shows me that I have to learn to be a neighbor deep within and that I already have the answer in myself. I have to become like someone in love, someone whose heart is open to being shaken up by another's need. Then I find my neighbor, or---better---then I am found by him.

The parable is prompted by a lawyer asking Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29) Pope Benedict explains how the whole parable turns on this question. The Lord holds up the Samaritan as someone whom we should imitate. “Go and do likewise.” (Lk 10:37) We do need to understand who exactly were the Samaritans. At the time of Jesus, there was, in Palestine, Judea, where the Jews mostly lived. North of Judea was Galilee where Jesus and His Apostles, other Jews, and pagans lived. In between those two places was Samaria where the Samaritan lived. Who were the Samaritans? 

After the descendants of Israel (Jacob) were led out of Egypt by Moses, they mainly occupied Palestine as separate tribes. This is recorded in the book of Judges. Saul became the first King of a united Israel, but he was rejected by God and was replaced by King David. King David’s son Solomon also ruled over a united Israel, and during his reign he supervised the building of the Jerusalem temple. Before the temple was built, sacrifice could by offered by priests who had to be descended from Aaron, who was the brother of Moses, who were both from the tribe of Levi. These sacrifices were to be offered in the “tent of meeting” which contained the “ark of the covenant”. When the temple was completed during the reign of King Solomon, the ark of the covenant was brought to the Jerusalem temple. (1 Kings 8:1-11) The temple was the one place where sacrifice could be offered to God. During the reign of Solomon, all of Israel came to Jerusalem to worship God and offer sacrifice to God according to the Mosaic Law. 

When Solomon got old, he turned away from God because of his many wives. (1 Kings 11:1-13) 

As a result, the prophet Ahijah, anointed Jeroboam, a member of the tribe of Ephraim, which had occupied the area north of Judea, to be king over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. (1 Kings 11:26-40) Solomon remained king of all Israel during his lifetime. During the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, David and Solomon’s kingdom of Israel split apart. Solomon had been using laborers from the northern tribes of Israel for various building projects. The ten northern tribes, represented by Jeroboam, wanted the burden of work they were bearing to be eased. Solomon’s advisors told Rehoboam to appease them so that the northern tribes would remain loyal to Rehoboam and the kingdom would remain united. However, Rehoboam listened to younger advisors who told him to increase the burden of work on these tribes. The ten northern tribes chose Jeroboam as their king and revolted against King Rehoboam. Only the tribe of Judah and the small tribe of Simeon, south of Judea, remained loyal to King Rehoboam. 

(1 Kings 12:1-15) 

After this political split, King Jeroboam realized that his subjects could not be going to Jerusalem, which was ruled by his enemy, King Rehoboam, the king of Judea, to worship and offer sacrifice to God. Jeroboam set up two golden calves, in the central region in Bethel and in the far northern region at Dan, for the Israelites under his rule to offer worship and sacrifice. (1 Kings 12:25-33) This worship was still to be the worship of the God of Israel, but it was not in keeping with the Mosaic Law. The calves were graven images forbidden by the Mosaic Law. (Ex 20:4-6) Jeroboam also appointed priests who were not Levites (1 Kings 12:31) to offer sacrifice. Jeroboam set up feasts in Bethel and Dan to compete with the feasts in the temple in Jerusalem. (1 Kings 12:32-33) The political split, where the capital of Judea was Jerusalem and the capital of the ten northern tribes was Samaria, continued until the ten northern tribes were conquered and deported by Assyria in 721 BC. (2 Kings 17:1-6) The southern kingdom of Judea was conquered and deported by the Babylonians in 587 BC. (2 Kings 25:1-7) Neither kingdom had political independence until the time of Jesus. Scripture cites unfaithfulness to God as the reason for both defeats and deportations. (2 Kings 17:7-23, Jer 25:8-14) 

The religious split between the two peoples continued until the time of Christ with those whose origin was Judea being called Jews and those whose origin was the northern tribes being called Samaritans. In chapter 4 of John’s Gospel Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman. There we learn that the issue of the place of worship was the same as it was 900 years earlier in the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain and you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” (Jn 4:20) Jesus asserts that the Jews were right. “You worship what you do not know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (Jn 4:22) On the other hand, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman the issue of the place of worship will become irrelevant. “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” (Jn 4:21) The true worship will be the Holy Eucharist which the Lord will establish at the Last Supper. 

Although the Samaritans were wrong in their worship, the Lord tells us that the Samaritans have something to teach us. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, He tells us we ought to imitate the actions of the Samaritan by helping those in need when we encounter them (Lk 10;37) as opposed to the Priest and Levite, who worshipped correctly, but did not practice love of neighbor by passing by the injured man. (Lk 10:31-32) Later, Jesus cures ten lepers, but only one of the ten, a Samaritan returned to Jesus to thank Him. (Lk 17:11-19) When a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus and His disciples because they were going to Jerusalem, James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on them, but Jesus rebuked James and John. (Lk 9:51-56) 

What does all this have to do with Catholics in the United States who seldom if ever encounter Samaritans? The religion of ancient Israel was centered around the sacrifices for sin in the Jerusalem temple. This worship of Israel was not united since starting with David’s grandson, Rehoboam, worship and sacrifice was carried out in other places and other ways by those who came to be called Samaritans. In Christianity, a similar thing has occurred, where the Orthodox do not recognize the Papacy, and Protestants do not recognize the Papacy and often reject many other aspects of Catholicism.

Most of us have encountered Protestants who have far surpassed the average Catholic and even ourselves in their compassion, love, and living the Gospel. This is not to say that doctrines and truth are not important and that all we need to do is to be a “good person”. In our fallen, sinful, condition we need to know how to live the Gospel and even why we should live the Gospel. This is where the doctrines and teaching of the Church can help us. We cannot live the Christian life alone. Jesus Christ founded the Church because we need it to truly follow Him. The rejection of the Church has caused many to fall into serious doctrinal errors and moral failure. Of course, being taught the truth does not mean that one will follow it. We still need to use the graces we have been given to live the Gospel. Often non-Catholics will use the graces they have been given more effectively than Catholics. They use the scriptures which they have read and even learned and the sermons they have heard to bear fruit in the Christian life. Catholics have these graces and also others such as the Sacraments, the Rosary, and devotion to the saints to help them. Sadly, many do not use these helps but even despise them. We also need to realize that many leave the true Church because of the foolishness and sinfulness of Catholics. Just as the Jewish King Rehoboam lost most of his kingdom because he failed to listen to the wise council of Solomon’s advisors, many Catholics fail to follow the Gospel and thereby cause others to leave the Church.

God had chosen all of the tribes of Israel to be the chosen people. He did not reject the rebellious tribes of Israel, but sent prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, and others to bring them back. The Lord did not reject a man who cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ but was not in the company of the disciples. “For he that is not against us is for us.” (Mk 9:40) As the Lord has advised us, we need to learn from those who are not a part of us, but we also must do what we can to introduce them to the riches which we have been given by the Lord. – Jim Nugent, CFP