Gospel Reflection on Luke 10:25-37

July 13, 2025

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

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I grew up thinking that the priests and the Levites in this story of the Good Samaritan lacked compassion as they walked by the wounded man. It's not that they were lazy or didn't care. Instead, the law prohibited them from coming into contact with blood of any sort. Such contact would exclude them from participating in the worship of the temple. So their preoccupation with keeping the law was like a cage that prevented them from acting with love.

The reality is that the law can only show us where we've gone wrong. It's like a blood test. It can tell us what's lacking, but it can't solve the problem. The law does not forgive. It just defines and describes. Ironically, Jesus is telling this parable to the lawyer in all of us who is always ready to defend and excuse ourselves. Then along comes the Samaritan.

It takes a Samaritan to save the half-dead man. He's already an outsider and he's willing to make himself impure to take care of him. To heal humanity, we must obey the rule that rises above every law: love. The Samaritan is willing to make himself impure in order to care for the wounded man. He represents Christ who made himself like us so he could care for us.

We have real difficulty understanding what Christ did. He took our rejected state, our humiliated state, our shameful reality on himself. Even after we've apologized, after we've served our time, after we paid the fine, there is still this residue of knowing we failed. It is this residue that Christ accepts, and this is what makes him the good Samaritan.

The Samaritan cures the wounded man with wine and oil, the same wine and oil that the church will use in the sacraments for healing of humanity. He takes the man to an inn where he's cared for. This inn is a representative of the church, which should be caring for wounded women and men. The church should not focus on personal purity to the exclusion of everything else.

Rather, as the body of Christ, the body of the Good Samaritan, we are called to minister to the wounded with the treasures that the Samaritan has left us, the wine and oil of the sacraments. They belong to those who are wounded. And all of us are called to imitate Christ and live in this same life-giving way.