The Gospel of Luke
Who is my neighbour? Lk 10,27-35
This episode is the first teaching of Jesus on the journey. Since his departure in 9,51 we have been reading the setting up of the missionary journey. Now we find Jesus teaching and so this episode therefore will be his opening statement, the very heart of his teaching.
The lawyer of course is not friendly, he is trying to test Jesus, like the devil in 4,2. This is a marked contrast to the scene in Mark (Mk 12,28-34) where Jesus' answer to the question gets a remarkably positive response from the scribe (Mk 12,32-34).
Whereas in Mark and Matthew, the question is about the greatest commandment, Luke in verse 25 has changed this to inheriting eternal life. This question about eternal life comes up again from a ruler (18,18), parallel to Mk 10,17 abd with a rather different response.
In this scene, Jesus asks a question himself in reply to the lawyer so he gets the lawyer to answer his own question. This answer is accepted by Jesus (10,28) in terms which recall Leviticus 18,5: by keeping the law of love one shall live.
Jesus' answer therefore is correct but one that does not satisfy the lawyer. He wants his controversy. In terms of Leviticus 19,18, the neighbour is restricted to one's own people or perhaps the resident alien (Lev 19,33-34). The lawyer is therefore thinking in terms of debating who belongs to God's people.
At this point, it helps to skip to the end and see that Jesus replies with a different question. Not "who is my neighbour?" but rather "who became a neighbour to the injured man?" Not so much what I can expect to receive but rather what can I be expected to give is Jesus' final answer.
Reading the story with that conclusion in mind, we can understand that the priest and levite were both good and respected people in the eyes of the Jews. They would have been seen as leaders in the community. Yet with their leadership there came in their eyes responsibility. They were probably busy people. If they touched the injured man they would have become unclean, defiled, and so unable to take part in the Temple ceremonies (though we are not told if they were going uphill or downhill on their journey.) Yet this man was one of their own, someone who would have been covered by Leviticus 19,8.
The priest and the levite would probably have known the late book of wisdom called Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, certainly they would have shared its attitudes: the self serving attitude of Sirach 12 and the exclusiveness of Sirach 50.
Jesus as usual makes his point with an extreme example: a Samaritan, hated by the Jews, outsiders to God's people, is the one who approaches and has compassion on the man. (Just as Jesus had compassion for the widow of Nain, 7,13). The story then tells in some detail of the way the Samaritan cared for the man, taking time, trouble and expense to do so.
The lawyer in reply could not even name the man as a Samaritan, he just speaks about "The one who treated him". Thus far Jesus breaks down barriers.
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The Sunday Gospel
The stress in the reading from the book of Deuteronomy is about the law written on the heart rather than tablets of stone, its spirit rather than its letter. Reading the whole chapter, the context is that of loving "the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul" (Dt 30,6). Thus this reading provides an emphasis on the first commandment to balance a reading which develops into issues concerning love of neighbour.
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