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Since we began
the Interpretations of the Sunday Apostle and Gospel readings, I have
tried to give more emphasis on the Apostle reading rather than the Gospel
because most people find Paul’s letters more difficult to understand than
the Gospels. Today I will do the opposite because the Gospel reading is
that wonderful Parable of the Good Samaritan and we shouldn’t let it pass
without a thorough examination. But the Apostle reading also has much to
teach us. It is from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians. During the
Apostolic age, Ephesus was one of the largest and brightest cities of the
Eastern Mediterranean. It was the Capital of Ionia and was the best known
coastal city of Asia Minor. It boasted a wonderful port and was a great
trading centre. Paul visited it twice. Once towards the end of his second
journey which was only for a day as he was in a rush to reach Jerusalem
and again on his third journey where he stayed for almost three years.
The main theme of his
Epistle to the Ephesians consists in the unity and the glory of the
Church, which is the Body of Christ. In the body of the Church is
historically revealed the pre-eternal will of God for the world and
mankind. The mystery of God’s will which was revealed to us with the
incarnation of Christ is the unity of everyone with God, everything is
summed up in Christ – through Christ and his body, in other words the
Church. This Sundays reading singles out the event of salvation in Christ
and reveals the primal role of grace in the accomplishment of this
salvation. So let’s hear the reading which is from Ephesians 2:4-10
“Brethren,
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by
grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he
might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man
should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
4-5) “Brethren, God, who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;)”
From the
beginning of the chapter which is not in today’s reading Paul underlines
the state of the Ephesians before they came to know and believe in Christ.
They were dead because of their transgressions and sins; they lived in the
desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of
wrath. This state was transformed by the intervention of Divine Economy in
history that is, the Incarnation of God himself and his saving work which
came about in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul emphasises the richness of
God’s mercy and the great love with which he loved mankind. For even
though men lived in a fashion which should have caused God’s wrath, he
shows them his endless mercy and divine love. The reason which moves God
to save mankind comes from himself: no one and nothing forces him:
whatever he does for mankind he does it only from his mercy and love.
What exactly
is involved in the work of salvation? Paul presents it here as the
quickening, that is the coming alive again of mankind with Christ. The
outcome of sin was our spiritual death. By taking human form, Christ
transformed this death into life. He planted in us the seed of a new life,
and gave us the fulness of his own life. By grace ye are saved. Here Paul
wants us to fully understand that the work of divine grace is a gift from
God and not the fruit of our own efforts. We are not saved by our own
efforts and achievements but through divine grace.
6) “And
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus.”
In the
previous verse Paul stated that God has quickened us together with Christ.
Now he also says that God has raised us up together with Christ and has
made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. What Paul is telling
us is that the salvation of man has already come about, all that remains
is for each of us to embrace it on a personal level, for each to became
partakers of the divine gift. Christ’s human nature has been raised and
because Christ is the head and we the church the body we also have been
raised with him. And as Christ sat on the right hand of God we also sit
together with Christ who comprise his body. For where the head sits, there
also sits the body.
7) “That
in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
Here
Paul is defining the purpose of the Divine Economy: God brings about the
salvation of man to show in the future age the ineffable richness of his
grace. We will know the Lord’s endless mercy in its fullness and we will
appreciate it during the future life. But now during this present and
temporal life, the unfaithful cannot see the good things hoped for and the
faithful see them only in part as looking through a glass, darkly. (1 Cor.
13:12) But in the future age, both the faithful and the unfaithful will
see the deified human nature which Christ received being venerated by all
of creation and his saints reigning with him. The honour which God’s
goodness has reserves for us is beyond imagination – to be made co-judges
and co-reigners with his only-begotten Son. To sit on the right side is a
show of honour which surpasses every other kind of honour and after this
there is no other. Indeed this is immeasurable richness which only the
unsurpassed strength of God can bring about. To sit with God, but who are
you? A dead person who by nature is a child of wrath.
8) “For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God.”
What
Paul said a little earlier in verse 5 that by grace ye are saved, he now
puts added emphasis by repeating it. It comprises one of the basic truths
of our faith, that our salvation is not the result of our good works or
our virtues, but a gift and grace from God. Of course it also demands from
our side that we believe. Faith is compulsory as the expression and
response of our free will. If we do not want it, God does not save us by
infringing on our independence, which is one of the greatest gifts with
which he has endowed us.
9) “Not of works, lest any man should boast”.
This present
verse reveals how things evolved. God did not only turn to the people who
observed his will and performed good works: we cannot say that God
confined salvation through works for then the saved would boast of their
accomplishments. The verse in fact is not referring to the good works of
the saints but rather the works of men in general. The works of men were
evil and their life was corrupt, but God through his grace saved them. The
result of this is that no one is allowed to boast. Man’s works are a cause
of self centred boasting which confine him to himself, and distance him
from the true source of salvation. Of course this doesn’t mean that in
Paul’s mind the works of men have no place, but even the good works of
Christians are not to be boasted.
10) “For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Here
Paul explains what he said earlier that man’s salvation is a gift from
God. Both the first creation of man and his rebirth in Christ are the
works of God. We are his workmanship, his creation. He is the cause of our
physical existence, but also as new creations in Christ, again we came
from God. He moulded us and gave us rebirth. God creates and renews man
unto good works, in other words to do good works and fulfil God’s will.
The good works are the natural results of our rebirth. We have become a
new creation not by the works that we do, but to do good works which
reveal our rebirth. The meaning of “which God hath before ordained” can be
interpreted in two ways. It can refer that God before ordained the works
or that he foreordained us. This doesn’t cause any dilemma because whether
it refers to the works or us, the meaning is that we should walk in them.
In all the time of our earthly life our purpose is to always do good and
to seek to be virtuous. Salvation is not some static situation but a
powerful journey: a journey that begins with our baptism and reaches the
kingdom of God.
That in short
is the meaning of the Apostle reading. Let’s now hear the Gospel reading
which is taken from Luke 10:25-37.
“At that
time, a certain lawyer came to Jesus, tempted him, and saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written
in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said
unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he,
willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? And
Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a
certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other
side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on
him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on
him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,
and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave
them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou
spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these
three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go,
and do thou likewise.”
The reading we
have just heard is known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Lord
found reason to tell the parable after a Lawyer came before him and
presented him with the question: “Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?” By lawyer it does not mean a solicitor in the sense we know
them today, but a teacher of the Mosaic Law. Note that the Evangelists
says of the teacher that he came to Jesus, tempting him: on other words he
came with the sole intention of tempting Jesus because he didn’t believe
that Christ was God and that his teaching was contrary to what the Mosaic
Law ascribes. Thus as a teacher of the Mosaic Law and with his great
knowledge, he wanted to place Jesus in a difficult situation. So this
cunning man came to Jesus without good intentions: what he said concerning
about eternal life was not the desire of his heart, he just wanted to
converse with Christ and make him appear that he taught contrary to the
Law which would have proven that he wasn’t God and neither did he come
from God.
In all
reality, the lawyer/teacher comes across very arrogant and full of pride,
thinking of himself as a superior teacher who had the knowledge to correct
others, even Christ. He may have seen the miracles that Jesus did, but he
only saw them with his physical eyes: the eyes of his soul remained
closed. His envy and arrogance did not allow him to believe in Christ as
the true God.
In spite of
the teacher’s arrogance, Christ does not ignore and disregard him just as
he doesn’t disregard any person, but wants all people to be saved. He came
to seek and find the lost sheep. (Matth. 18:11) Every man, every sinner is
a victim of sin and the devil and needs to be delivered from this tyranny.
Now because the teacher was adherent to the Law, Christ condescends to
also begin from the Law so that the teacher will be convinced that he was
not against the Law: how could he be for the person who spoke with Moses
and gave him the Law was Himself.
To the
teachers question, Christ replies with his own question: “What is written
in the law? How readest thou?” And the teacher replies: “Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” The
teacher replied with the correct answer because even though his question
was “what should he do to find eternal life”, he knew the answer lay in
having love for God and for one’s neighbour. His answer also showed that
he was well learnt in the Law because he did not quote one of the Ten
Commandments, but gave a combination answer by quoting passages from two
books – Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Deut. 6:5. Lev. 19:18). Thus he showed
that he didn’t lack knowledge of the Law, but he did lack the observance
of it. He knew the letter and ignored the spirit.
That is why
Christ said to him: “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt
live”. Don’t just read and teach the Law, but go and put into practice
what you preach. But in the new age of the Incarnate God, to follow the
road of love can lead to one’s life being sacrificed for the sake of love
for others.
The teacher is
among those who Christ said that: “they hear and see, but do not
understand”, in other words they do not hear and see with ears and eyes of
their soul, therefore neither can they understand with their soul. There
is a hardness in their hearts from their sins and especially their pride.
For them eternal life is very distant because they live in the old age of
the Law, of the letter, the biological life and not with Grace which is
eternal life. They cannot understand the true meaning of love and how it
identifies with sacrifice for the one you love. For the love which is
ready to die for God and one’s neighbour there is no death: love is
eternal life. How can the love for God as expressed by the teacher with
the quadruple repetition of “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind”, how can this be put
into practice and if necessary how can it reach the sacrifice of this
physical life? What does the Law offer to help man in sacrificing his self
love, so that he may be able to offer himself totally to God and to his
neighbour and thus gain eternal life? The answer is absolutely nothing.
The Law preserves a certain relationship with the true God, so that the
people of Israel are not drawn away into idolatry and also to prepare the
reception of the Messiah. But it is the “letter” which doesn’t strengthen
man in the struggle so that he remains in God.
There are of
course examples of saints in the Old Testament, who loved God and
fulfilled his will in their life, but they were not strengthened by the
Law so that they could overcome sin and inherit eternal life. In contrast
to the Law, Christ is the only person who loved completely God the Father
with love that reaches death on the Cross, but also offering himself as a
sacrifice for the salvation of man. He put to death the obstacle called
sin and became the true and eternal life.
With
everything the teacher expressed concerning the Law and everything that
Christ showed him “this do, and thou shalt live” proves that Christ
doesn’t teach in opposition to the law, but rather that he came to fulfil
it with love for God and man. Love is not a canon, a rule which we are to
learn by heart and memorize it, as did the teacher, but the overcoming of
our self-love, that the other person might live in us and us in them: each
person living in the other which is an image of the persons of the Holy
Trinity, which is eternal life.
But let’s
return to the Parable. The teacher, having heard the praise from Christ
“Thou hast answered right”, seems to be full of self pride and his
arrogance is exalted even higher. Wishing now to justify himself for the
question he asked, even though he knew the answer, he now asks Christ:
“And who is my neighbour?” He considered himself as the only righteous and
virtuous, with great knowledge of the Law and there was no one else to
match him so that he could consider him his neighbour. This is how he
tries to justify himself, by placing everyone below his own rank of
virtue, so that no one could be found to be his neighbour. And even though
the Mosaic Law considered one’s neighbour to be him who was in need of
help, he understood it as someone who was of equal ranking. Thus because
he believed he was above all people, he had no neighbour.
But Christ
shows the teacher that his understanding of who is his neighbour has
nothing to do with rank. He teaches that the thing someone has in common
with us to be considered our neighbour is not his rank in life, neither
his virtue, nor his place of origin or anything else, but only the common
human nature. All who share in the one human nature are our neighbours. To
every human being we owe it to be their neighbour with love, care and with
our good intentions, especially when they are in difficult circumstances
and are in need of help. As a prototype and good example to imitate is the
Good Samaritan.
In the
Parable, Christ, in a clear and vivid manner is addressing himself not
only to the teacher, but to every man who has confined himself only to his
egoistic self love to help him understand who is his neighbour, but also
that through this he may gain eternal life. Christ tells the beautiful
story of the great tragedy that befell upon a certain Jew who was
travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of thieves,
who with cruelty stripped him naked, took everything that he had and then
beat him mercilessly causing wounds all over his body and then leaving him
unconscious or as Christ says “half dead”. His condition was so critical
that it was impossible for him to regain consciousness on his own. Without
help from someone death would have been imminent. His only chance of
survival was for someone passing by to spot him, someone with a merciful
heart who would do anything possible to save him.
As it happened
three people did pass that way, a priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. First
to pass by was the priest and then the Levite. The two are similar because
they were both Jews and in fact both of the same tribe because the priests
of Israel were taken from the tribe of Levi, thus they were both
representatives of the Law and the Prophets, both religious leaders and
teachers. It is possible that the Jew who fell to the thieves was on his
way home after worshipping at the Jerusalem temple and that the Priest and
Levite were also on their way home after having fulfilled their duties in
the temple. Many priests lived in Jericho and would only go up to
Jerusalem when it was their turn to fulfil their priestly duties.
The priest
passing by and seeing the unconscious man was obliged by the high office
he held to be merciful and compassionate. This is what he taught others to
be, but instead of being an example of what he taught he totally ignored
the helpless man and passed by the other side. The Levite was even more
cruel because it says that he came and looked on him, he saw that he was a
Jew like himself, but he also chose to ignore his fellow man and passed by
the other side.
They both had
as their guide the letter of the Law. They knew and taught with every
detail the double love for God and one’s neighbour. They also knew that
one’s neighbour was he who was in need of help, he who is suffering and
awaits our compassion. But these teachings remained only knowledge without
putting them into practice. They couldn’t share in the practice because
that would have meant personal sacrifice. They only knew how to serve
their own self love, and the requirements of this earthly life which
pursues to live biologically and not eternally. The fathers say that self
love is a form of failure of the human life. With so much love for
oneself, how is it possible to have love for God with all our might and to
love our neighbour as our self?
The crime of
abandoning the wounded man was equal to the crime of the inhumane beating
by the thieves which left the man half dead. For both the priest and the
Levite, their own interests were far above the needs of their neighbour.
What was going through their minds at that moment? If they stopped to
offer help, they may save the man’s life but the delay would hurt their
own interests or they might even be in danger and also fall into the hands
of the thieves. Maybe they also thought that someone else would soon pass
that way, maybe one of their listeners who heard them teach on the Law and
who would have more time on their hands to help this wounded man. They
probably even said to themselves that they had love for the wounded man
because they didn’t hate him neither did they wish this terrible thing to
happen to him. When man stops loving God and his fellow man, he will try
and find many excuses to justify himself. But love cannot be contained
only in the mind. If it doesn’t manifest itself with works, with sacrifice
and with offering ourselves to our fellow men then it is not love and we
are deluded if we think we have love for God. With their denial to place
themselves on a personal level with the dying man, the two representatives
of the Law were in fact spiritually dead.
Now after the
priest and the Levite another person passed by that way, a stranger from
Samaria. We have talked about the Samaritans before. They were in part
Israelites but they were a mixed race with a mixed religion. They claim to
be the direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel
by the Assyrians in 722BC. Their religion was a mixture of the Jewish
faith with the worship of other Gods. Thus for the Jews they were
idolatrous and had no dealings with them and were not allowed to even talk
with them. Whenever they are mentioned in the Gospels, they always appear
as extremely grateful and good people. They are shown as a people guided
by the light of the own conscience and an unwritten law. Luke makes good
mention of the Samaritans to show that Christ didn’t only come for the
lost sheep of Israel but for all people. But they also serve to show the
difference between the Jews who had the Law and the Prophets but didn’t
live by the Law, and the Samaritans who didn’t have the Law but came close
to living it.
Thus in the
Parable he appeared in a completely different image from the two Jews. As
soon as he saw the wounded man be had compassion for him. He immediately
got down from him animal and began to take care of him. He washed his
wounds with wine and oil and bandaged them. He them lifted him and placed
him on his animal and took him to an inn and took care of him with the
utmost diligence. He stayed all night with him and the next day he paid
the expense to the innkeeper to continue taking care of him until he was
completely recovered and promised that on his return he would pay for any
added expenses that were necessary for the cure. With all this care by the
Samaritam the wounded man was saved from sure death.
If the priest
and the Levite lived the hell of the absence of love from their souls, the
Samaritan lived that which the teacher sought, because eternal life is
love for God and for one’s fellow men. Paradise is found in the heart
which is ready to rise upon the Cross, to become a sacrifice for everyone
and which accepts the last even as it does the first, which with a
passionate and pure love calls out to all and says you may all enter. This
is the kind of heart that the Samaritan had.
When he came
to the wounded man and started to tend to his wounds, he didn’t for a
moment think of his own safety: he didn’t think of the danger from the
thieves. He was willing to sacrifice even his own life, because he had
denied himself to save his neighbour. He took the “love thy neighbour as
thyself” to a different level and made it “love thy neighbour above
thyself”. This is what he did, he loved him more than he loved himself. He
didn’t think that the wounded man was a stranger or from a different race.
There was room in his heart for every man, because he is an image of God.
By loving his
fellow man, the Samaritan, through this love, receives in his heart a
perception of God which is knowledge of God and this knowledge becomes a
perception of immortal life. For as Christ said “this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent”. (John 17:3) In other words life as love, which is the life of
the three persons of the Holy Trinity, is life eternal. St. John in his
first Epistle says: “We know that we have passed from death unto life,
because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in
death”. (1 John 3:14)
With this
parable Christ taught not only the teacher, but every man, how eternal
life is inherited and how by living with love for God and man, we live
from now the eternal life. If we live this present life as love and
communion with God and man, we will be united with God and this union will
be divine and endless pleasure, but for all those who refuse this love it
will be unspeakable pain.
At the end of
the Parable, Christ asks the teacher: “Which now of these three, thinkest
thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? The question by
the teacher of “Who is my neighbour” Christ now transforms it into “Who
became your neighbour”. And when the teacher replied “He that shewed mercy
on him” Christ told him “Go, and do thou likewise” in other words, go and
become a neighbour to everyone by showing love and mercy as did the
Samaritan. By living in this way, with love and sacrifice you will inherit
eternal life. Thus the teacher had his answer to his original question
“what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” St Maximus says that the two
pence the Samaritan paid the innkeeper for the wounded man’s treatment
represent love for God and love for man.
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