5th OCTOBER.MONDAY IN WEEK 27

1.Jonah 1:1-2:1

2.Luke 10:25-37

" Who is my real neighbor?"

In today's gospel we hear the young scholar of the law asked this question to Jesus: " who is my neighbor?" Sometimes we look at his question in a negative way, as if the young scholar is asking the question to justify himself or may be so as not to be "topped" by Jesus.

"Who is my neighbor?" There were groups in Jesus' time who understood the word ' neighbor' in a very limited way. Like for example, the Essenes of Qumran who required their new members to swear to love the sons of light and hate the sons of darkness. For them, their neighbor is the one who shares the same religious sentiments and persuasion as themselves.

Another group is the Zealots who understood neighbor to include only those who shared the same nationality and ethnicity with them. The average Jew would not regard the Samaritan as a neighbor. They are outsiders and circle of neighborly love does not include them.

The new teaching of neighborly love is his insistence that all humanity is one big neighborhood. Thus he broke down the walls of division and borders of prejudice and suspicion that humans have erected between "us" and "them". 

To bring home this point he tells them the story of the Good Samaritan. This man regarded as enemy number one by the Jewish establishment simply because he is Samaritan, is the one who finally proves himself  to be neighbor to the Jewish man in need. " Who is my neighbor" Jesus' answer is : Anyone and everyone without exception.

While the priest and the Levite, in the parable seem to have an unacceptable attitude because they passed by and did nothing. In fact they were right in the legal sense by not touching the man because it would render them ritually impure especially when they were on their way to the Temple to worship. 

Moreover, under the Jewish law, if they would touch the body of a dead person, they would have to undergo a purification rite and there was no enough time for them to do it. In case of the priest who was scheduled to be a part of the service, an opportunity that fell to a priest by lot, he would do all in his power to avoid ritual impurity and this might be his opportunity in his lifetime. He would not risk losing out and that is an understandable situation. Nevertheless, they follow the law blindly and literally, they did not see and understand the real need of a person. The aim of the law is to guide one's action but it should not limit to express love to the other. Our love for others must be as wide as God's love which is unconditional. And so Jesus is telling that someone has to stop and gives comfort and aid to all and nobody should be excluded.

The parable addresses the question, " what does it mean to be a neighbor?" Jesus in response is suggesting that it is more important to be a neighbor to others than trying to work out " who is my neighbor?" The parable is saying to us that if you want to know what it means to a neighbor, look at the Samaritan. What distinguished the Samaritan is that he responded to what he noticed. His seeing  gave way to compassionate serving. It is the kind of seeing that characterized Jesus' whole ministry. Jesus' answer to the lawyer's first question is " Be a neighbor in the way I am."