Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘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 neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

I wonder how much of the Christian life begins simply with slowing down and noticing.

In today’s Gospel, a man lies wounded beside the road. A priest sees him and passes by. A Levite sees him and does the same. Then comes the Samaritan, “When he saw him, he was moved with pity” (Luke 10:33). He saw him. But the others saw him too.

The difference is that the Samaritan allowed what he saw to enter his heart. He noticed. He was moved. He drew near. And then he acted.

Is this what today’s Gospel challenges us? Our lives can be so full. We move quickly from one thing to another, often doing good and necessary things. But hurry can make us blind. We can see people without really seeing them.

Parker Palmer writes that God is often represented by the stranger, because God continually challenges our familiar ways of seeing, “Where the world sees impossibility, God sees potential” (The Company of Strangers). Perhaps that is why Jesus makes the Samaritan the one who stops. The person considered an outsider becomes the one through whom God is revealed.

The Samaritan does not solve everything. He simply responds to what is before him. He gives his time, tends the wounds, and leaves two coins for the man’s care. Pity becomes action.

This is mission in its simplest form: being quiet enough to notice, open enough to be moved, and willing to do what we can. And then to respond like Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37)

Sometimes the road on which we are hurrying to meet God is the very road on which God is already waiting for us.

Who am I not noticing? And who might be revealing God to me?