(Optional Memorial for Saint Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and His Companions, Martyrs)
(Optional Memorial for Saint John Leonardi, Priest)
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| “The Good Samaritan” by Théodule-Augustin Ribot, before 1870 |
Commentary:
Reading 1: Jonah 1:1–2:1-2, 11
Commentary on Jon 1:1–2:1-2, 11
We begin the Book of the Prophet Jonah with the command from God that the prophet must go to the Assyrian town of Nineveh. Jonah represents a narrow-minded group of Jews who believe that, as God’s chosen people, the Lord does not care about other nations. He is afraid of going to this town so he runs in the opposite direction, to the far west, to Tarshish (believed to have been southwest of modern Spain).
The ship Jonah has sailed on runs into a serious storm and the sailors (although not identified as Jews) have the mindset that the storm is a punishment sent by God for someone on board. Jonah knows he is the one they suspect, and tells the sailors to cast him over the side, which they do after praying to God not to punish them.
The story tells how Jonah is swallowed up by a giant fish and kept in its belly for three days (significant from a Christian perspective). Jonah is then spewed out on dry land. Note, the prayer uttered by Jonah while inside the fish is the Psalm Response we use today.
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Responsorial Psalm: Jonah 2:3, 4, 5, 8
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Commentary on Jon 2:3, 4, 5, 8
Jonah’s prayer, from inside the giant fish that swallowed him, is an individual lament. The prophet calls to God out of fear, pleading to be restored to favor, and asking the Lord that he might “look upon your holy temple” once more.
CCC: Jon 2:3-10 2585
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Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Commentary on Lk 10:25-37
In this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel, we find Jesus being challenged by a person referred to as a “scholar.” It seems clear that this man has a good idea of how Jesus is likely to respond to his initial question about what he must do to inherit eternal life. As soon as the man tells Jesus what the law says, the scholar asks for still more clarification asking: “And who is my neighbor?”
"In this passage, Jesus praises and accepts the summary of the Law given by the Jewish scribe. This reply, taken from Deuteronomy (6:4ff), was a prayer which the Jews used to say frequently. Our Lord gives the very same reply when He is asked which is the principal commandment of the Law and concludes His answer by saying, "On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40; cf. also Romans 13:8-9; Galatians 5:14).
There is a hierarchy and order in these two commandments constituting the double precept of charity: before everything and above everything comes loving God in Himself. In the second place, and as a consequence of the first commandment, comes loving one's neighbor, for God explicitly requires us to do so (1 John 4:21; cf. notes on Matthew 22:34-40 and 22:37-38)."[4]
The illustration Jesus uses in answering him does clarify the answer, and at the same time, uses a cultural tension to heighten the lesson. First a Priest of the Jewish Temple passes the victim of robbery (one who is most scrupulous in observing the letter of the Law), next a member of the priestly class, a Levite, does the same. The one who helps the victim, presumably a Jew, is a member of the Samaritan culture, antagonists of the Jewish people. In this way, the Lord provides a moral lesson along with an explanation of the Law.
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Reflection:
The message today is very clear: God is the Father of all mankind, and his expectation is that the love he has shown for us is the same love we should show to each other. The message comes at us hard from both the old and the new testaments.
We begin with the story of Jonah, a prophet called by God to take a warning to Nineveh Assyria , enemies of the Jews, Jonah, like many of his contemporaries, could not believe God would help non-Jews. On top of that, since they were hostile to the Jews, what kind of a reception would he receive, and why would they even listen to him? Faced with these views and feelings, Jonah did the logical thing, he ran in the opposite direction.
If we read the whole story, the lesson to be learned is clear. God did not come “just” for one group of people, he came for the whole human race, all of his children.
Moving ahead from the story of Jonah and his prayer from inside the giant fish (which is used as the Responsorial Psalm) to the Gospel, where we examined events which took place some seven hundred years before the Lord walked the earth: We are given a more pointed and personal story with the same message; the story of the Good Samaritan. Here, a person hoping to “justify himself” before Jesus as a faithful member of the Jewish community, asks Jesus to explain the Lord’s own Great Commandment by asking: “… who is my neighbor?”
The Lord answers this question with a parable that can be seen as analogous or parallel to the Jonah tale. The parable of the Good Samaritan, also a group known as hostile to the Jews, explains to the questioner that all peoples of all races are his neighbors. And like the story of Jonah, the parable of the Good Samaritan should be an example for him to follow.
This pair of examples should be reminders to all of us. In the world climate in which we find ourselves, it is easy to develop stereotypes and biases that would lead us to behave as if some groups are not worthy of our love. When we run into a vocal group whose message is hate and violence it is easy to forget the Good Samaritan.
Our prayer today must be that we, as faithful followers of the Lord who spent three days in a tomb that we might find a path to eternal life, might emulate the Good Samaritan. We pray that all those we meet today will see in our actions that we treat them as “neighbors” and extend to them the love of Christ.
Pax
[1] S.S Commemoratio
[2] The picture is “The Good Samaritan” by Théodule-Augustin Ribot, before 1870
[4] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, pp. 423
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