Lk 10:25-37
25There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test [Jesus] and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27He 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.” 28He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
29But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus 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. 31A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 32Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 33But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. 34He 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. 35The 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.’ 36Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” 37He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
PRIEST, LEVITE, SAMARITAN: Looming in the background of the Gospel story is Jerusalem, its temple, and the ritual purity required in the temple service.
The first to see the half-dead man is a priest. If the victim is a non-Jew or is dead, the priest would be defiled by touching him. The Levite comes next and he, too, passes the victim by. He probably sees the priest’s response from afar and follows his example.
Following the tripartite division of people then—the priests, the Levites, and all the people of Israel—one would expect a lay Israelite to be next. So it is unexpected to see a Samaritan—whom the Jews do not consider “neighbor.” This hated enemy—a trader—is the first to feel compassion for the victim.
This scandalous story paints a difficult but challenging nature of love of neighbor. Instead of answering the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus redirects the inquiry: “Who acted as a neighbor?” From the question of neighbor as object of love, Jesus makes the neighbor as the subject of love. The “neighbor” is the one who loves any person in need and manifests his love in concrete acts of mercy.