Who is the Samaritan
Of all Jesus Christ’s parables, this Sunday’s parable of the Good Samaritan is arguably one of the most famous. In fact, it has become such a common expression in modern languages that we say someone is a ‘good Samaritan’ if they actively care for their neighbor, regardless of their religious beliefs. Many charitable institutions have also adopted the name ‘Samaritan’, particularly in some dioceses where Samaritan Houses that shelter the homeless are commonplace.
But who were the Samaritans at the time of Jesus? Their roots go back in history as they claimed to be the descendants of the northern tribes of Israel, particularly Ephraim and Manasseh, who remained in the land after the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel in the North (722 B.C.). The Assyrians repopulated the area with foreigners who intermarried with the Israelites. Jews viewed this intermingling as a corruption of true Israelite identity. Samaritans, however, believed they preserved the true Mosaic religion. They accepted only the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) and rejected the Jerusalem Temple worshipping instead on Mount Gerizim. Jews saw the Samaritans as heretics and ethnically impure and tensions were high often erupting into violence or mutual exclusion.
The entire parable is an answer to the question of the scholar of the law who, wishing to justify himself, asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” This is an important question because it determines the significance of the commandment. Does it apply to those who are close to me, such as family members, or those with whom I share religious, national or cultural ties? The usual interpretation of the rabbis and Jewish people at the time, as well as the natural tendency of all of us, is to help those with whom we already have a connection. However, using the puzzling example of the Samaritan (“Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans” Jn 4:9), Jesus Christ indicates that the point of view is different: it is about becoming neighbor oneself, breaking down the barriers of convenience and confrontation, and loving those in need, whoever they may be. Become close, reach out. “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” Jesus asked back to that scholar.
But there is still something important to add. First and foremost, it is Jesus Christ who, having compassion for our misery, has made himself our neighbor. He is the true Good Samaritan. Nobody like him has reached out to the sick, poor, needy, sinful. To illustrate this, we can share here a beautiful text of St. Augustine in which he offers an allegorical and very profound interpretation of this parable.
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho; by “Adam” the whole mankind is meant; Jerusalem is the heavenly city of peace, from whose blessedness Adam fell; Jericho means “the moon”, and signifies our mortality, because it is born, waxes, wanes, and dies. Thieves are the devil and his angels. Who stripped him, namely, of his immortality; and beat him, by persuading him to sin; and left him half-dead, because in so far as man can understand and know God, he lives, but in so far as he is wasted and oppressed by sin, he is dead; he is therefore called half-dead. The priest and Levite who saw him and passed by, signify the priesthood and ministry of the Old Testament which could profit nothing for salvation. Samaritan means “Guardian” and therefore the Lord Himself is signified by this name. The binding of the wounds is the restraint of sin. Oil is the comfort of good hope; wine the exhortation to work with fervent spirit. The animal is the flesh in which He deigned to come to us. The being set upon the animal is belief in the incarnation of Christ. The inn is the Church, where travelers returning to their heavenly country are refreshed after pilgrimage.
The return of the Samaritan is after the resurrection of the Lord. The two silver coins are either the two precepts of love or the promise of this life and of that which is to come. The innkeeper is the Apostle. The supererogatory payment is either his counsel of celibacy, or the fact that he worked with his hands lest he should be a burden to any of the weaker brethren when the gospel was new, though it was lawful to him ‘to live by the gospel’” (St. Augustine, Questions on the Gospels 2.19)
Have a good summer.
Fr. Javier Nieva, DCJM
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Previous Letters:
July 6, 2025: Joy and Spoons
June 29, 2025: In Fire
June 22, 2025: A Beating Heart in the Tabernacle
June 15, 2025: The Mirror
June 8, 2025: Filled With the Holy Spirit
June 1, 2025: He Loved Us
May 25, 2025: Servant of Your Faith and Joy
May 18, 2025: Leo
May 11, 2025: The Deposit of Faith
May 4, 2025: Costly Mercy
April 27, 2025: Who is Peter?
April 20, 2025: I Make All Things New – Arise!
April 13, 2025: I Make All Things New – To Do My Penance
April 6, 2025: I Make All Things New – I Declared My Sin to You
March 30, 2025: I Make All Things New – I Firmly Resolve
March 23 2025: I Make All Things New – I am Sorry for Offending You
March 16, 2025: I Make All Things New – Examining Your Conscience
March 9, 2025: I Make All Things New
March 2, 2025: Pruning
February 23, 2025: The Anointed of the Lord
February 16, 2025: Be My Valentine
February 9, 2025: Wash Away My Guilt II
February 2, 2025: Wash Away My Guilt I
January 26, 2025: Catholic Education
January 19, 2025: Shall Marry You
January 12, 2025: Called by Name
January 5, 2025: Pilgrims of Hope
December 29, 2024: Priests for the Family
December 22, 2024: Messengers of Joy
December 15, 2024: Blessed Are the Poor
December 8, 2024: Love, Hope and Joy
December 1, 2024: Hope Does Not Disappoint
November 24, 2024: Are You King?
November 17, 2024: Seven Words
November 10, 2024: Tu es Petrus
November 3, 2024: Pray For Those Authority
October 27, 2024: These Are the Feasts
October 20, 2024: Someone Else
October 13, 2024: Be Prudent
October 6, 2024: Project and Dreams II
September 29, 2024: Projects and Dreams I
September 22, 2024: Pastor
September 15, 2024: Take Up Your Cross
September 8, 2024: Guardians of Shared Memory
September 1, 2024: From Their Hearts
August 25, 2024: The Cost of Discipleship
August 18, 2024: For Real?
August 11, 2024: Too Long For You
August 4, 2024: A New Manna
July 28, 2024: Bread of Life
July 21, 2024: Shepherds After My Own Heart
July 14, 2024: Woe to Me…
July 7, 2024: Come and Rest (II)
June 30, 2024: Come and Rest (I)
June 23, 2024: Storms
June 16, 2024: I Will be a Father to You
June 9, 2024: Burning Furnace of Love
June 2, 2024: In the Midst of Him
May 26, 2024: Forever I Will Sing the Goodness of the Lord
May 19, 2024: Through the Holy Spirit
May 12, 2024: The Ark of the Covenant
May 5, 2024: Source and Summit
April 28, 2024: Rejoice Always
April 21, 2024: I Believe in the resurrection of the body Part II
April 14, 2024: I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body Part 1
April 7, 2024: Rich in Mercy
March 31, 2024: Sine Dominico Non Possumus About Sunday
February 11, 2024: I Was Ill and You Cared For Me
February 4, 2024: Why Evil?
January 28, 2024: Catholic Schools Week
January 21, 2024: Attachments
January 14, 2024: The LORD Shines
January 7, 2024: Epiphany 2024
December 31, 2023: A Family of Families
December 25, 2023: New Beginnings
December 17, 2023: Christmas
December 3, 2023: Watch
November 26, 2023: Be Healed
November 19, 2023: Sealed
November 12, 2023: Religious?
