A good Sunday to all.

Today we will listen to a very familiar parable, the parable of the Samaritan, which is set along the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The two cities are 27 km apart, and the road that joins them runs along the Judean desert you see behind me. It is steeply downhill because the difference in altitude is about 1,000 meters. Jesus knew this road very well because he had traveled it since childhood. The evangelist Luke says that the holy family went to Jerusalem yearly for Passover. This was the only road that allowed the Galileans to reach the holy city. You can see it in this picture taken from above, and if you look at a distance, the last mountain is the Mount of Olives, beyond which you get to Jerusalem.

This road was hazardous because everywhere there were caves, ravines, and precipices, and in the time of Jesus, it had to be traveled by caravan because the Judean desert was infested with bandits. To protect the wanderers, there were checkpoints, one of which was in this fortress that you see on the top of that mountain. It was a fortress built by Herod the Great, and he had given this fortress the name of his mother, Cypros, who was a Nabataean.

Halfway there was another guard post which today is called 'Inn of the Good Samaritan,' you see the road behind me in a 1905 photo; the road you see is the guard post, and in Jesus' time, it must not have been very different from this one. There you have the picture of what this hostel looks like today. Why am I showing it to you? Because in the early nineties of the last century, Israeli archaeologists excavated this site and made some exciting finds. They said there were caves inhabited at the time of Jesus, probably by those who had the task of protecting the wayfarers from marauders.

In the 12th century, the crusaders turned this place into a fortress called 'the red fortress.' What was it used for? It was used to protect the wayfarers and, in this case, were the Christian pilgrims going to the Jordan to visit the place of Jesus' baptism. Let's continue this road and go to Jericho. You see it in the background. The steppe of Jericho is beginning to come into view and also, again, that fortress Cypros that I mentioned before, and now we go straight to Jericho; you see the Roman road. At the time of Jesus, the city stood where you see all that green in the background; notice again the fortress of Cypros overlooking the whole plain of Jericho.

Then, behind me, you see the remains of the palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great. I show you the reconstruction of the Hasmoneans and a double pool with history because, in that pool, Herod the Great drowned his brother-in-law, of which he was very jealous. Now you see the palace of Herod the Great; there were even three of these palaces. Notice also that pool was 90 meters long and 42 meters wide.

What was Jericho like at the time of Jesus? In the parable, we will find four characters going down the hill from Jerusalem to Jericho; it was a vibrant, vital, city of palm trees where the perfume was produced and known worldwide and made with secret compositions; it was costly. Jericho was a frontier city, and that's why the customs office was there; also, we understand that the customs house's administrators collected the duties, and we also know the name of Zacchaeus. Jericho was important because it was the winter seat of the rich people of Jerusalem; during the winter in Jericho, it was spring, and many temple priests had their villas and winter residences in Jericho. It was also a famous city in ancient times for the corruption of customs, the 'good life.'

It was antithetical to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the holy city above, and Jericho was below, the city of corruption, precisely in opposition to the holy city. The parable we will listen to is introduced by a dialogue between Jesus and a doctor of the law. Let us listen:

 

"There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him 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, our God, with all your heart, your being, your strength, and 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?’”

 

The first character that enters the scene is a doctor of the law, a very esteemed person in Israel because he devotes all his time to the study of the sacred texts; he knew the Torah; he taught it to the people, and when there were legal disputes, they have recourse to him. He appears before Jesus to put him to the test. The Greek verb used, ἐκπειράζων - ekpeirason, occurs only twice in the Gospel of Luke. The first time the devil tempts Jesus, he wants to lead him astray; the second time, it applies to this rabbi, and then many say that he presented himself to Jesus with malicious intent, to set a trap for him so that he could condemn him later.

This verb 'ekpeiraion' can mean to tempt, but usually, it also means to put to the test, to seek verification. I believe that this is the case with this rabbi that he approached Jesus to see if he was a wise person and if he knew the Scriptures, and probably also to get an inner light, an answer to specific questions that he asked himself. He asks him, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Let's notice that he does not go to Jesus to ask for success, well-being, and health; he goes beyond biological life. I have inherited the biological life; I cannot give it to myself; I receive it as a gift from my parents; they can ask me for anything but not to provide me with life; I can only receive it as an inheritance. And it is the same with the life of the Eternal; if I do not receive his life as an inheritance, as a gift of the Eternal, when the biological life ends, everything is over. That life I received as a gift is no longer there; its history is over.

Now he asks Jesus—and it's a crucial question—how can I dispose of myself to be able to live my life to receive this gift of eternal life. The answer that Jesus gives is two questions that he asks him. 'You are a biblical scholar; what do you read in the Torah? Not only what you read, but how do you interpret what you read?' It is beautiful the way of proceeding of Jesus that was that of the rabbis of his time, who did not answer immediately. Still, they asked other questions because they wanted the truth not to be imposed but to come from the people's hearts. So, they kept asking questions until the person concluded on his own, and then he would be convinced of that truth because it had not been imposed on him. If truth is imposed on us, we are always left with doubts; when, on the other hand, it comes from within, then we are convinced.

And in fact, Jesus asks these two questions and the rabbi answers. He's a biblical scholar, and he refers to two texts; the first one is the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, and he says: 'If I am to be included to receive this gift of eternal life, I must love the Lord with all my heart, with all my life, with all my strength, and with all my mind.' He refers to that text repeated twice a day by every pious Israelite in prayer: 'You shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart.'

We know that the heart in the Bible is not the seat of feelings, but it is the seat of all choices. Therefore, all choices must be made in harmony with God's thoughts and will. Also, 'with all your life,' you must love the Lord, not in one sector of your life. 'Economics has nothing to do with the Lord,' NO. Your whole life, not one moment; no, every moment of your life must be a sign of love to the Lord. 'With all your strength.' It means that all the goods you have, the material goods, and the gifts you have received from God must be put to the service of the Lord's project. It is the explanation that this rabbi makes to the sacred text. To love God with all one's mind.' This is what he does; he dedicates his whole life to the study of the word of God.

Here we could make an application to our life as Christians today. We cannot say that we love God with all our heart, life, and strength if we then dedicate perhaps more time to the sports team of the heart and not to the study of the word of the Lord. The union that the rabbi made is wonderful and a provocation for us Christians today. And then, he quotes a second text from the book of Leviticus, chapter 19: "You shalt love your neighbor as yourself." This rabbi understood that to be prepared to receive the inheritance of eternal life, one must love, always remain in tune with the will of the Lord and, therefore, discover the meaning of my existence, and then manifest love for those who are close to me. To love is the willingness to live here and then prepare to receive this inheritance.

Jesus' answer is beautiful: "Very well, you have answered correctly; work thus, and you shall live." He is saying, if you want to live here, now, in this time of your biological life, to live humanly and be willing to receive the life of the Eternal, you need to love. If you don't love, you don't live as a man; what characterizes you as a man is to be in tune with the Lord's love and love towards your brothers and sisters. If you do not do this, you do not live. So, continue this way; you are on the right path, but the rabbi wanted to justify himself and asked Jesus: "And who is my neighbor?"

Neighbor in Hebrew is 'reach,' the one near me. There was much discussion as to who these neighbors are. Some interpreted it with relatives, neighbors, those of their own people, or those of the people of Israel. There were many terms to indicate those who did not belong to the people of Israel, but they could also be neighbors, for example, the stranger passing through; he is also included in this neighbor; 'il guer,' that is, the foreigner living in a country not his own, as we would say today, who is allowed to stay, he is also a neighbor, and they argued. We know why in the Bible there are outstanding provisions concerning these people.

The 22nd chapter of the book of Exodus says, 'You shall not trouble a stranger, you shall not oppress him because remember, you were a foreigner in Israel, and you know how foreigners were treated there, how they were taken prisoners. You can't do that because you were a foreigner once, and you know what that means.' And it also says, 'The Lord protects the strangers, supports the orphan and the widow, protects all the frail and weak.'

The rabbi then asks, who is my neighbor, the neighbor who must receive this love? Jesus does not answer him with reasoning but with a parable. Let us listen:

 

“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.’”

 

"A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” Who was he? Of him, we know nothing, neither his age, his profession, nor whether he was a Jew or a foreigner, what religion he practiced, whether good or bad... we know nothing at all. We only know one thing: he was a man, and this was enough for Jesus. What had he gone to Jerusalem for? To pray for business, offer sacrifices in the temple, or steal? And then, how come he went to Jericho alone while everybody else was in a caravan? And if he was an attractive prey for the robbers, it means he had possessions with him. About him, we don't know anything.

It comes characterized in the most generic way possible: he was a man. The man never loses his dignity, even if he is a criminal. We remember in the Bible when Cain says to God: 'Now whoever finds me can kill me because I am a criminal.' And God puts a sign on Cain because no one should touch Cain; he remains with his dignity as a man, who is the image of God, a very disfigured likeness of this image, but he does not lose his dignity.

In what condition will this man later be found with other characters who will go down to Jericho? He encountered bandits who stripped him of everything; they stripped him naked, beat him with blows, and left him half dead. This is the condition of this man that later other people will find. He has been stripped of his clothes; beasts go naked; therefore, he has been dehumanized; he has been beaten, he has been wounded, he is alone and half dead, and he is on edge between life and death. It is now up to those who meet him: to let him die or bring this man back to life.

This parable also reflects what happens today to so many people who encounter thieves in their lives; thieves who rob them, dehumanize, turn them into beasts, disrobe, disfigure them, and then leave them humanely destroyed. This is the condition in which so many people on the brink find themselves. Do they end up in total dehumanization, or are they brought back to life?

Now, ‘a priest happened to be going down....' Beautiful this coincidence. Jesus is telling us that you must not go looking for your brother or sister in need; the circumstances, the coincidences, put him or her in front of you. The second character down to Jericho is a priest; he traveled that same road, and what happened? Two verbs characterize his reaction. The first verb was 'He saw him'; the second was 'He passed by on the opposite side.’ Two verbs. It is not that he did not see, but that he avoided helping that person; therefore, he let him die. He could have brought him back to life, but he is a priest.

In Israel, there were 24 kinds of priests; they lived in their villages, but twice a year, they had to go to Jerusalem to stay there for a week to officiate in the temple. Then he would return home. He had spent a week with the Lord; he still had the garments perfumed with incense; he still had the hymns and the melodies of the psalms in his ears. He had been with the Lord, so he would have had to assimilate not only the glance of the Lord who sees the needy but also the feelings of the Lord, the emotion of the Lord, the ‘splagkenisomai,’ the 'rajum,' the first characteristic of God: 'I am the one who feels a visceral love for the needy.'

The priest does not; he passes by on the other side of the street, and we wonder why he did this? Maybe because he is a priest and there is blood, he cannot touch the blood. The man could even be a dead person and cannot approach the dead. He knows well what Leviticus says, 'the priest is unclean by contact with a deceased person, not even by his father or mother; he cannot touch a dead person. And he who touches a dead person remains unclean for seven days says the book of Numbers. Therefore, the priest must remain pure to officiate; he has an excuse; he must not come near that man.

The most important religious practice is love. Perhaps there are other reasons why he has not approached the man going across the street; he could have been attacked in turn; maybe the robbers are still around. Or, 'I don't want to get in trouble, or I just don't have time to waste.' Let's reflect on these possible reasons why the churchman, religious, excuses himself not to take care of a problem of someone who may die if he does not intervene.

Second character: A Levite goes the same way; he is also a churchman. And he also comes characterized by two verbs in his reaction: First, he sees, but he turns aside and passes by. Who were the Levites? The Levites were the sacristans of the temple. So, they also had to remain pure. Why does Jesus introduce these two men from the church? Because he wants to take away the illusion of being his disciples because they practice religious rites.

We know how in the Old Testament, the prophets denounced the religious practice separated from love. That is, they want to replace with rituals the only thing that matters to God: love for the needy, the orphan, the widow, and the stranger. At this point, the hearers of the parable are expecting that after the two men of the church, a savior will enter the scene, who will be, they think, a pious Jewish layman. Suppose Jesus had performed the parable in these terms. In that case, that is to say, if a good layman had come, the people would that at that time manifested that benevolent anticlericalism that we also find in today's Christians would have approved the parable.

Let us listen instead to who is the fourth personage who goes down to Jericho and meets that man attacked by the robbers:

 

"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.’”

 

We still find this title in many bibles: 'The Parable of the Good Samaritan.' Let's eliminate the word 'good.' Jesus does not present 'a good Samaritan,' but 'a Samaritan.' The worst insult that could be addressed to a Jew was 'dog' or 'pagan.’ The second insult was 'Samaritan,' which was equivalent to bastard, renegade, heretic. The author of the book of Ben Sirach, chapter 50, introduces the Samaritans in this way: 'The foolish people who dwell in Shechem, who do not even deserve to be considered a people.'

The Jews had their good reasons to consider excommunicating the Samaritans. For centuries, they had mingled with other peoples and built their temple in Gerizim. Therefore, they did not practice the pure religion practiced in Jerusalem. Then, they did not even accept all the Scriptures; they had eliminated the psalms, the prophets, and the wisdom books. Whoever called a person a 'Samaritan' deserved the punishment of 39 lashes. That is why this offense that Jesus received when they told him, 'you are a fool and a Samaritan,' was grave. Jesus says, 'I am not a fool,' but he accepts the title Samaritan; for him, it is not derogatory.

The Samaritan in the parable is in hostile territory in Judea and is, therefore, an illegal immigrant; he is in danger. Now he loses his mind; he forgets everything; he had his plans for his life, but now he finds himself with a man who is on edge between life and death, and it's up to him to let him die or bring him back to life. These are ten verbs that characterize his behavior. It's a very accurate description of what he does in front of the wounded man.

First verb: 'He saw him’ as everybody else saw him, but he sees him differently. And here's an important message for us; don't wait for the other person to cry out for help; maybe he doesn't even have the strength to ask for help. It is I, if I love my neighbor, who must be attentive; I must always be ready to intervene because that is the look of God.

The priest and the Levite were used to praying, were used to looking up to the sky, but what happened is that they looked up to heaven, but God's gaze goes to the poor, to the needy, and that's why those who pray, do not look up but look where God looks. If there is a mother with a sick child who needs help, I cannot look at the mother; I must look where the mother looks; this Samaritan is not a man of the church; he is not a man who practices the pure religion of Jerusalem, he is a heretic, but he has the look of God that goes to the needy.

Second verb: 'He drew near to him.' He draws near; he does not flee from the impure because, for him, no one is impure; the men of the church distinguish between the pure and the impure. When man's life is at stake, they argue about ritual cleansing. Perhaps the God of the doctor of the law was the one who commanded to stay away from the impure.

The Samaritan follows the heart, follows what God's feelings are, as we have heard. Third verb: 'He was moved.' Here is the famous verb 'splankenitzomai.’ He felt a visceral emotion that made him lose his mind. He acts and reasons as God moved by the womb, by visceral love. This verb is used twelve times in the Old and New Testaments and is always applied to God or Jesus.

In the Old Testament, the verb that corresponds to this is found in the self-presentation of God; in Exodus chapter 34, God says, ‘Do you want to know what is written on my identity card who I am?’ 'Ani rahum.' Rejem is the womb; therefore, the first image that God gives of himself is feminine. 'I love with uterine love, like that of a mother for the child in her womb.'

It is the most beautiful image of the visceral love of God. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, this verb is consistently applied to God or Jesus, except once, when it is used not to a pious Jew, priest, or a religious person but to a Samaritan. And we have already seen who the Samaritans are. It's not enough to see; it's not enough to approach; you must feel this feeling which is that of God. If you get in tune with this love of God, then you go into action.

This Samaritan no longer follows the head but the heart; he forgets his commitments, religious norms, difficulties, hunger, and tiredness. He acts and commits himself to solve this problem of a man between life and death, between being dehumanized or becoming a man again.

Fourth verb: 'He approaches.' Fifth verb: 'He heals the wounds.' Sixth verb: 'Pours oil and wine.' Seventh verb: 'He mounts him on his mount.' Eighth verb: He leads him not to the inn but to that place where all are received. Inn in Greek is said 'senodogéion.' Here there is no such word but 'pandogéion,' the place where all are welcomed, without distinction. I told you before that the crusaders had constructed the red fortress in that ‘pandogeion’ and on a stone of this construction of the crusaders, a walker, a pilgrim who was probably on his way to see the place of the baptism of Jesus, wrote the following: 'If the priests and ecclesiastics pass over your distress, know that Christ is the good Samaritan who will always have compassion for you and will take you to the eternal inn at the hour of your death.’ It's a beautiful graffito on this stone.

We understand, then, the parable of this Samaritan in the intention of Jesus. He is that Samaritan; the priests, the Levites, with their religious practices, wanted to help humankind, but the one who came to help was a Samaritan who intervened with oil and wine to give life back to this humanity. And then the last verb: 'He takes out two denarii and gives them to the owner of that inn,' to the 'pandogeus,' the one who takes in everyone, and he says: ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’

It's interesting because he gives him two denarii, so he gives him two days' money, which means that he would come back on the third day to pay for everything if needed. In the parable, what does Jesus do with this humanity? He takes it, and although wounded, it remains forever with this human dignity and takes it to the place where all are welcomed, where no one is expelled; and it is he who has paid for all because he has given his whole life for this humanity's salvation. Now Jesus turns to the doctor of the law and asks him one last question. Let us listen:

 

“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.’”

 

Jesus does not pronounce his judgment on what happened; he wants the doctor of the law to do it; that's why he asks the question that reverses the one he had asked him at the beginning. The rabbi had asked him, who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor whom I should love? In Greek, 'plesíon' is an adverb, meaning 'near,' 'close to,' but when it has the article in front of it becomes a noun: 'the neighbor,' 'next to.’

The rabbi had asked, how far should my love go? Who is the neighbor? What is the limit? Who has the characteristics to deserve to be helped? Jesus turns the question around: 'Which of these three has become a neighbor to that poor man who fell into the hands of bandits?' For Jesus, the neighbor is not a condition; a characteristic one must have to be helped. The neighbor is the one who needs help.

The rabbi's answer: "The one who treated him with mercy.” He does not name the Samaritan, does not dare, but he is forced to admit that he is the one who has become close, and so Jesus says to him: "Go and do likewise." The doctor of the law had turned to Jesus because he wanted to know, 'how can I create in me the conditions to receive the life that is not the biological life I have already received, but the life of the Eternal?’ And Jesus asked him, 'Which of these three, the Samaritan, the priest, the Levite... in whom of these three have you seen present the life of the Eternal, the eternal life already in action?

In whom of the three have you seen the glance of God? That of the priest and that of the Levite. They were not the look of God; they only saw but did not care. Instead, the Samaritan was interested in what he had seen. Also, in which of the three did you see present the feelings of God, the 'esplanjenísomai,’ the 'rajum,’ the visceral love that made him lose his mind so that he would not think anymore about what he had to do, about the dangers there was; none of that. He hadn't seen anything because it wasn't his head guiding him but the feelings that were God's feelings. Then, 'you are a biblical scholar, you know the Torah and, therefore, you know the works of God, the look, and the feelings of God. In which of the three did you see present the works of God? The priest and the Levite went away. This God does not do.

The Samaritan is the one who revealed that in him, God was present the life of the Eternal. The parable has an explosive message. It is said that the one who becomes a neighbor to his brother or sister loves as God loves. It reveals that in him is present the very life of the Eternal, that eternal life that the doctor of the law asked Jesus how he could prepare himself to receive as his inheritance. This message is explosive because it is what John tells us in chapter 4 of his first letter: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is begotten of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God because God is love.”

The consequence: Jesus gave us an example of one who has received the life of the Eternal, one who does not practice the religion practiced by the Jews, like the doctor of the Torah who was certainly puzzled; he did not expect it, but Jesus tells us, ‘Wherever you see signs of love, you are sure that there is the life of the Eternal.’

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.