WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOUR?

Reflections on the Fifteenth Sunday in OT: Deuteronomy 30:10-14, Colossians 1:15-20, Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the Good Samaritan is undoubtedly one of the popular Gospel texts. Interestingly, its interpretation has evolved over the centuries.

1. The wounded Christian and Jesus, the Good Samaritan: Standard interpretations from renowned Church Fathers and medieval thinkers (known for their special liking for allegories) have identified Jesus as the Good Samaritan and the Christian as the robbed and wounded man. While sacrifices (priest) and the law (Levite) could not save us, the compassionate saviour comes to our aid. The focus of this interpretation was not so much about what we must do, but about what God has done for us.

2. The disciple as the Good Samaritan: With time, the emphasis shifted from “Jesus’ love for the wounded humanity” to “the humanity’s mandate to love the neighbour”. The disciple is not the ‘victim’ but the Samaritan on the journey. He is called to imitate God’s love by his attentiveness to the suffering and needs of others, and the readiness to do everything possible to help them effectively. In this optic, the parable is interpreted as a call to generosity and selfless charity in action.

Towards a third interpretation: Recent biblical scholarship and interpretative methods have challenged us to approach the parable in the light of its original context, literary text, narration, and the transformation it wishes to effectuate. Luke places the parable of the Good Samaritan in the context of an important debate: “Who is my neighbour?”.

This was a point of serious theological contention among three factions.

1. Sectarians: Some Pharisees and Essenes argued that only one’s family and immediate neighbourhood can be considered one’s neighbours.

2. Orthodox: Most rabbis taught that all members of God’s chosen people (meaning all fellow Jews) could be considered neighbours.

3. Liberals: Other more liberal-minded rabbis held that all humans are neighbours, regardless of race, nationality, or religion.

The “neighbour” question was central to the disagreements and debates among these factions. The lawyer’s question is a loaded one. Interestingly, Jesus does not align himself with any of these three factions. He challenges him to go beyond the debate between these factions. He shifts the debate’s focus, reframes the question, and reverses the problem’s terms.

            The parable begins as a response to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbour?”. However, it ends with a different question. Jesus asks, “Which of these three was a neighbour to the robbers’ victim?” Jesus reverses the focus from ‘my neighbour’ to the ‘wounded man’s neighbour’. The real and urgent problem is not the lawyer’s search for righteousness or a solution to the “neighbour” debate of the three factions. On the contrary, what demands our urgent focus is the wounded man in distress. The lawyer is challenged to reason not from his own theories but from the neighbour’s situation. He must set aside his perspective and act for those who suffer.

To identify one’s neighbours, one must learn to embrace the challenge to ‘decenter’ oneself. The response to the “neighbour” question does not lie in identities of race, caste, colour, region, or ideology. Jesus broke barriers that kept people apart. He transcended the prejudices of regions, cultures, and taboos. The only law that matters is the law of compassion, which is already in “our mouths and our hearts” (first reading), which invites us to transcend our walls of indifference and prejudice that keep us apart and pit us against the other.

            So, who is your neighbour? Your neighbour is the one you meet on your path and care for. Your neighbour is anyone who needs you. It is for us to discover who our neighbour is, by drawing near to the wounded one with compassion, serving with our strength, and caring with the best of our resources as the Samaritan did. Jesus helps us discover that those we customarily define as ‘strangers’ are fundamentally ‘neighbours’. They have the same strengths and flaws, joys and fears, whether or not they look like us and whether or not we’re speaking the same language.

The neighbour is not only the one we approach but also the one who approaches us to help. There is mutuality in love between neighbours. They are not merely receipts of our charity. We receive lessons about hope and strength from our wounded neighbours. Jesus, the eternal Good Samaritan, who brings about true reconciliation and peace (second reading), continues to walk with us on life’s perilous roads. He walks with us, sustains us, and shares his strength in our woundedness. He is our Good Samaritan and neighbour who continuously draws us closer to the many neighbours awaiting us on our discipleship paths.