Readings: Deuteronomy30:10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37.
Today, we have one of the most interesting parables of Jesus, known as the parable of the good Samaritan. This parable is only recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke. I have a lot to share on this Gospel but I will try and contain the excitement.
Let us begin by looking at the concern of the lawyer who came to Jesus. He asked, “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” There is an important message for us here – we may want to ask ourselves, “What am I most concerned about? What am I most worried about?” Many times we are so worried about temporal things that we forget about our soul, we forget about our eternity, about being happy with God forever (Matthew 6:33).
The concern of this lawyer ought to be our concern too, “How can I obtain eternal life?” Life as we know it is passing and fleeting. How and where we spend eternity is the most important thing. No wonder Jesus told His disciples in last week’s Gospel not to rejoice because of their fame and success but because their names are written in heaven.
The lawyer went on to further ask Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?” This question is also very important for us today. We still need to understand who our neighbour is. “Who is my neighbour?” means who should I love? Who should I help? Who should I care about? For a typical Jew, a neighbour was a fellow Jew. Some of us still have this reductionist understanding of a neighbour – my neighbour is someone who agrees with me, someone who loves me, someone who belongs to my group, someone who has the same complexion as me, someone who speaks my language. In this sense, we shut some people out of our sphere of love. Even the people who live next to us are sometimes not lucky enough to be our neighbours because they are not in our circle.
According to Jesus, everyone who shares the same humanity with us is our neighbour – anyone who is in need, anyone who bears the image of God is our neighbour.
Jesus eventually told the story of the good Samaritan. I won’t repeat it because we all know it. This story has two layers of interpretation.
The first layer is to see it simply as a parable and learn from the character of the Good Samaritan. In this parable, Jesus tells us the essence, the soul of true religion, how a religion helps us in our pursuit of eternal life.
I shall share five points with us briefly:
I. Knowledge of God and the faith: The lawyer knew the law. True religion demands that we grow to maturity in knowledge of God, doctrine, teachings of the Church (Ephesians 4:13).
II. Spirituality: A life of prayer and seeking deep communion and relationship with God.
The priest and Levite fall under this. Prayer is the heartbeat of religion but it is not complete in itself.
III. Transformation: True religion transforms us.
It heals our hatred, envy, pride and bitterness. It fills us with God’s love (Romans 5:5), it heals us of our prejudice, how we see and treat others. We stop seeing who deserves our help and who doesn’t, and we see God in others. The good Samaritan exemplifies this. It is said that a religion that doesn’t change our hearts cannot save our souls.
IV. Acts of charity and compassion: True religion moves us not just to know, feel and think but to act, to respond to human needs, to spend or sacrifice our time, money, our oil and wine, comfort, convenience (Read James 1:27; 2:14-17). Unlike the priest and Levite, the Samaritan noticed (some of us do not even notice the wounded and tears around us). He was moved to pity and he couldn’t move on. He acted. He cancelled his journey. He didn’t judge the wounded or rationalise. He didn’t refrain from helping because of caution. He just helped. Faith is not just by diction; it moves us to actions of love.
V. Mission: A true religion calls us to mission.
It challenges us to go out with our oil and wine, to bring healing, mercy, love and message of hope to those wounded at the roadside of life.
DIGGING DEEPER
At a deeper level, this parable is actually about Jesus. He is the Good Samaritan. The wounded man is Adam, representing all humanity. He was wounded by the devil, sin and evil on his way. The priest and Levite represent the law and the prophets. They saw but could not help humanity. Jesus came down from heaven, He washed our wounds by His blood, bandaged us with His grace, paid the price of our redemption, leaves us with the Church for total recovery and He will come again in glory to take us to Himself after our full recovery. This is the story of God’s great love for us.
The Second Reading tells us that Jesus is the image of the unseen God, meaning that in Jesus, we see the Father’s indescribable love for us.
Dear friends, God has saved us out of love and mercy. We are all products of grace. We do not deserve what we have received. So we have a mandate to go and show this love to others. Jesus is saying to someone today, “You are alive today because of my love. You are where you are today by grace. My mercy brought you this far… go and show the same to others.”
Practical Questions for Reflection today:
Who are the wounded people I often walk past without noticing?
Is my religion transforming my heart and actions?
What sacrifices have I made lately to live out my faith?
Am I living as a missionary of mercy and hope to others?
Closing Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You are the true Good Samaritan who saw us in our woundedness and lifted us with Your grace. Heal our hearts, deepen our compassion, and renew our sense of mission. May our religion be more than words, may it be a living testimony of love, sacrifice, and transformation. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on July 13, 2025