Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

 

The Gospel today presents the parable of the Good Samaritan. To meditate on a parable is the same thing as to look deeper into our life to discover in it the call of God. 

 

In describing the long journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, Luke helps the communities to better understand what the Good News of the Kingdom consists of. He does it by presenting persons who come to speak with Jesus and ask Him questions. These are real questions from the people of the time of Jesus and they are also real questions asked by the communities of the time of Luke. 

 

Thus, today in the Gospel, a doctor of the law asks: "What should I do to inherit eternal life?" The response, both of the doctor and that of Jesus, helps us to better understand the objective of the Law of God.

 

The doctor thinks that he has to do something in order to be able to inherit. He wants to obtain the inheritance through his own personal effort. But an inheritance is not merited. We receive an inheritance by the simple fact of being son or daughter. As sons and daughters, we can do nothing to merit the inheritance. We can lose it however!

 

What is important, the principal thing, is to love God! But God comes to me in my neighbor. The neighbor is the revelation of God for us. The condition of neighbor does not depend on the race, on the fact that they are relatives, on sympathy, on closeness or on religion. To know who is our neighbor depends on us: to arrive, to see, to be moved with compassion and to get close.