The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

July 13, 2025 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 10:25-37

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Who needs help and what can I do to help? These are questions we all face at times. It may be a family member who is facing rough times. It may be a neighbor who is struggling with one thing or another. It might even be ourselves. Today’s gospel is well known, sometimes followed, sometimes ignored. It’s also a gospel most all know. It occasionally seeps into ordinary conversation. We only have to hear the words, “the good Samaritan” and we know what’s being noted.

A few comments about its meaning. It begins with an incident that would be well known to those who first heard it from Jesus. Travelers in those days were often set upon by robbers. Cities and towns and villages were well fortified and protected. The paths between them were not. So anyone traveling in that open land were literally putting their lives in harm’s way. So no surprise that if Jesus wanted to illustrate danger and challenge and need, begin by saying, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” All his listeners knew what was next. But they might also be surprised, too.

Two religious figures, a priest and a Levite (both would have been employed by the Temple) turned the other way, ignoring the man in obvious need. Then a Samaritan came along, immediately stopped to help the man who was described as “half dead” by offering first aid and took the man to a safe hostel and (using an example from today) gave the innkeeper his credit card with directions to charge to him everything the injured man might need. An added point, the Samaritans back then might likely be judged by some Jews as unholy because they did not worship at the temple in Jerusalem.

Some things I take from this parable of Jesus. First, genuine holiness is not limited to religious acts, but must also include acts of kindness, assistance and care for all others. They qualify for help simply by their need, not by their identity. Second, our response (or lack thereof) is directly related to our participation in eternal life. Helping others is not just a human concern. It’s God’s concern as well.  Finally, there is no limit to the extent of what God expects of us. It’s not 10% or 50%, or any limited amount because it is unlimited, unconditional, not determined by our needs to give, but only by the other’s need at that moment.  

The parable of the Good Samaritan always makes me feel uneasy. And challenged.

David M. Thomas, PhD