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Go and Do Likewise!


The story of the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25–37) is a popular, yet fascinating, story in the Bible. Probably because it is shocking, against societal norms, and makes the “bad guy” out to be the hero and the “good guys” end up looking like real jerks.

To fully understand the story, one must first realize how despised and mistreated the Samaritans were in Bible-times. They were outcasts….literally, shunned “half-breeds” and hated with a passion.  Much like the Serbs and Muslims in Bosnia or the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland….there was definitely no love towards them at all.

That’s what makes this story of the “Good Samaritan” so special. It is a call for us to rise above ALL descriptions, labels, acronyms, races, religions and all other attributes given to humanity that segregates us into so many different categories and just simply love each other unconditionally. No matter what color….what country we’re from….whether they are even good, bad, illegal, or our out-right enemy….we love…unconditionally.

The Lawyer talking with Jesus in the “Good Samaritan” story (Luke 10:25-28) did answer correctly when asked to define “what the law says” about eternal life. It was all about loving! He stated, “…“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus tells His interrogator the same thing: “Do this and you will live.” The Lawyer, however, wants to know where he can draw the line…perhaps compromise…arbitrate the regulations….even be justified to exclude certain people. That’s the motive behind his question: “Who is my neighbor?”

In his compassion, the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable reveals the boundless mercy of God—who came down to us when we were fallen in sin, beaten up by the world, clobbered by our own self-inflicted choices, close to dead, unable to pick ourselves up.

Jesus is talking about God, but using the image of the Good Samaritan to explain the love that God has for us. It crosses all boundaries….of every nation and continent. In Him, the love of God has come very near to us.

Jesus gave His all for us. By the “blood of His Cross”—by bearing His neighbors’ sufferings in His own body, being Himself stripped and beaten and left for dead—He saved us from bonds of sin, reconciled us to God and to one another. He crossed over every boundary line known to humanity.

Like the Samaritan, He takes the initiative….He pays the price for us, heals the wounds of sin, pours out on us Himself through the sacraments, entrusts us to the care of His Church, until He comes back for us. Now, don’t you see it??? WE are the man lying on the road….Jesus is the Samaritan who came to save us….to pick us up off the road (this world) that so easily beats the life out of us and wants to lead us directly to Hell.

Here is an important lesson of the “Good Samaritan”….because His love has known no limits, ours cannot either. We are to love as we have been loved, to do for others what He has done for us—joining all things together in His Body, the Church.

It doesn’t matter who they are….what color they are….what part of town they’re from….what gender they identify with….illegal immigrants….ISIS terrorist….Iran…Afghanistan….no matter what, who or where….love passionately as Jesus loves you!

This is the love that leads to eternal life, the love Jesus commands today of each of us—“Go and do likewise.”

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