εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”
“ ... 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.’
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.”
θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)
Many in Church this Sunday, no doubt, will be familiar with the Parable known popularly as the “Good Samaritan.” The Parable is synonymous with the moral imperative to assist anyone in need, especially when it comes to the essentials of life. Enshrined as the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, these non-negotiable actions demand and immediate engagement to remedy any threat to a person’s life as the Samaritan demonstrates.
No reflection on this Parable can afford even the hint of weakening the moral absolute to tend to a person(s) in need. Concurrent with this reality is that Gospel Parables never have a singular meaning or application. While there is insight to Kingdom living that is apparent, there is always more to ponder as the day-to-day realities employed by Jesus challenge one to ongoing conversion of heart, mind and body. This is especially important with Parables and other aspects of Sacred Scripture that are so familiar to us as there is a tendency to think, ‘Oh, I know what this is all about.’ When that happens, we run the risk of closing our bodies, minds and hearts to the fresh and rich challenge always sounded by the Sacred Word of God.
The rich meaning embodied in Parables was not lost on the Fathers of the Church. In probing the message of Salvation intrinsic to Sacred Scripture, use of the Spiritual Senses of Scripture enabled them to see deep connections between Text and life. Among the many who offered commentary on this Sunday’s Parable, Saint Ambrose presented some insights worth pondering.
In his Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, the saintly bishop of Milan commented:
Throughout his Exposition, Saint Ambrose viewed Jesus acting as the Samaritan who picked up the one who sinfully fell among the Evil One and his minions signified by the robbers. As humans, we choose erroneous and dangerous paths to travel thinking them to be easy, fast and fun. In Jesus’ day, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was hazardous, giving a vivid sense of the peril presented in the Parable. The road itself was narrow. On one side thieves and bandits hid in rock crevices waiting to pounce on unsuspecting travelers. The other side of the narrow road, one could easily slip off the road and plunge hundreds of feet into a valley of jagged rocks.) Despite our poor choices, the Samaritan (Jesus) rescues us, brings us to the Inn (Church) and pays the price for our healing (His life-giving death and resurrection). Jesus further equips the Church with the two coins of Scripture’s Testaments: the Old and the New, given to form humanity to choose always life’s proper road and to assist one another along the way because of our relationship to the One God and Father of us all.
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| Parable of the Good Samaritan Balthasar van Cortbemde, 1647 |
“The next day,” what is this next day, if not that day of the Lord’s resurrection, of which it was said, “This is the day which the Lord has made”? “He took out two coins, and gave them to the host, and said, ‘Take care of him.’ What are those two coins, unless perhaps the two Testaments that contain revealed within them the image of the eternal King, at the price of whose wounds we are healed. Precious blood redeemed us, that we may avoid the sores of final death. (Exposition of the Gospel of Luke)
Throughout his Exposition, Saint Ambrose viewed Jesus acting as the Samaritan who picked up the one who sinfully fell among the Evil One and his minions signified by the robbers. As humans, we choose erroneous and dangerous paths to travel thinking them to be easy, fast and fun. In Jesus’ day, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was hazardous, giving a vivid sense of the peril presented in the Parable. The road itself was narrow. On one side thieves and bandits hid in rock crevices waiting to pounce on unsuspecting travelers. The other side of the narrow road, one could easily slip off the road and plunge hundreds of feet into a valley of jagged rocks.) Despite our poor choices, the Samaritan (Jesus) rescues us, brings us to the Inn (Church) and pays the price for our healing (His life-giving death and resurrection). Jesus further equips the Church with the two coins of Scripture’s Testaments: the Old and the New, given to form humanity to choose always life’s proper road and to assist one another along the way because of our relationship to the One God and Father of us all.
