The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  [10:22]

  In language that sounds like phrases in John’s Gospel (John 3:35; 10:15; 13:3), Jesus develops the connection earlier expressed between the Father, the Son, and the disciples (see Luke 9:48; 10:16). First, he notes the authority given to him: All things have been handed over to me by my Father. In contrast, one recalls the devil’s claim to the authority “handed over” to him (4:6). Second, Jesus reflects on his relationship as Son to the Father: No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son. Already at the age of twelve, he had expressed awareness of his identity as Son (2:49). He now expresses it more fully—the words “Father” and “Son” occur a total of eight times in verses 21–22—and he does so in “the holy Spirit” (v. 21), giving a glimpse of the life of the Trinity. He thus reveals to the larger group of disciples what Peter, John, and James found out on the mountain (9:35) and Mary had been told by the angel (1:32, 35). Third, as Son, Jesus is the one who reveals the Father to anyone to whom he wishes—namely, his disciples. Thus in teaching his disciples and sending them on their mission, Jesus is making known to them the Father’s plan of salvation. Such is the connection between the sending Father, the sent Son who sends, and the sent disciples (see 4:18, 43; 9:2, 48; 10:1, 16).

  [10:23–24]

  Having revealed his identity as Son, Jesus expresses with a beatitude the unique privilege that the disciples have been given: Blessed are the eyes that see what you see (8:10). They, like Simeon, have received the blessing of seeing God’s salvation with their own eyes (2:26, 30). The theme of reversal appears again (see v. 21), since many prophets and kings were not given this opportunity. Indeed, the prophets Moses and Elijah finally saw at the transfiguration (9:30) and King David only “foresaw” it (Acts 2:31). Moreover, the disciples, like the three apostles on the mountain who were reminded to “listen” to Jesus (akouō, Luke 9:35), are told how fortunate they are to hear (akouō) Jesus, who is both “prophet” (7:16) and “king” (19:38).

  Doing the Love Commandments and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (10:25–37)

  25There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

  29But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. 31A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 32Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 33But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. 34He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ 36Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” 37He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

  OT: Lev 18:5; 19:16, 18; Deut 6:5; 2 Chron 28:5–15; Dan 12:2

  NT: Luke 18:18; Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14; James 2:8. // Matt 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–34

  Catechism: love God, 2083; love your neighbor, 1825, 2822; oil a sign of healing, 1293; the priest in the sacrament of penance bandages wounds, 1465

  Lectionary: Fifteenth Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C); Anointing of the Sick

  [10:25]

  Just after Jesus’ words about things being hidden from the learned (10:21), such a learned person appears: a scholar of the law—that is, a scribe and teacher of the Torah. Such scholars in Luke are always portrayed negatively (7:30; 11:45–52; 14:3), and this one is no exception, since he wants to test Jesus (see 4:2, 12). Addressing Jesus as Teacher, he asks a question typical of the late Old Testament period (see Dan 12:2; 2 Macc 7:9) that would continue to occupy the rabbis:35 what must I do to inherit eternal life? The rich official will later ask Jesus exactly the same question (Luke 18:18).

  [10:26]

  Jesus turns the question around, asking the “scholar of the law” to answer from the law itself. For Jesus, the answer is to be found in Scripture. He also asks—How do you read it?—referring to the interpretation of Scripture, which will be taken up in the parable.

  [10:27]

  In response, the scholar combines the two Old Testament verses that contain the phrase You shall love (Lev 19:18; Deut 6:5).36 The Deuteronomy text comes first, since it involves loving the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being (or “soul,” RSV), with all your strength, and with all your mind. This verse forms part of the †Shema prayer recited twice daily by Jews (see Deut 6:4–9).37 The Hebrew text of Deuteronomy has three elements rather than Luke’s four: “heart,” “being” (“soul,” RSV), and “strength” (Deut 6:5). However, since the Hebrew word “heart” can also refer to the seat of understanding, the †Septuagint sometimes translates it as “mind” (Lev 19:17 LXX; Deut 4:39 LXX), and some manuscripts of the Septuagint even have “mind” in the Shema also. Thus it is not surprising that Luke has the fourth element “mind.” The idea is that the commandment to love God embraces every aspect of one’s being.

  The Leviticus text follows immediately: and your neighbor as yourself. It is possible that the combination of love of God and neighbor had already been made by the time of Jesus, since it appears in nonbiblical Jewish literature (without the quotations of the biblical texts), although the dating of these texts is uncertain.38

  [10:28]

  Jesus affirms that the scholar has answered correctly. However, knowing the right answer (see 7:43) and doing the right thing are two different matters, and indeed the original question asked what he needed to “do” (poieō, v. 25). This emphasis on doing is also found in Jesus’ teaching (6:47; 8:21), so he continues: do this and you will live. These words echo another passage from Leviticus: “By doing so one shall live” (Lev 18:5 NRSV). This stress on what one needs to “do” will be repeated at the end of the passage (twice in Luke 10:37).

  [10:29]

  The scholar, seeking to justify why he asked the first question if he already knew its answer, asks a second question: Who is my neighbor? The context in Leviticus indeed suggested a range of options. “Neighbor” could be understood more narrowly as a relative or a member of one’s people (Lev 19:17–18). It could also be understood more broadly to include the foreigner sojourning in the land: “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself” (Lev 19:34).

  [10:30]

  This second question regards the interpretation of Scripture. As with other such matters (e.g., the sabbath, Luke 6:9; 13:15–16; 14:3), Jesus is the one who gives Scripture its authoritative interpretation since “all things have been handed over” to him by the Father (10:22). Here, he interprets the commandment by telling a parable.

  The setting of the parable is the steeply descending road about seventeen miles long from Jerusalem to Jericho, a drop in elevation of about 3,300 feet. A man (presumably a Jew) went down on this road and fell victim to robbers (a realistic scenario), who stripped and beat him, leaving him half-dead.

  [10:31–32]

  Three individuals encounter the half-dead man. First, there is a priest who is similarly going down from Jerusalem, probably returning home after finishing his time of ministry in the temple, and then likewise a Levite.39 They behave in the same manner: they both saw the man, but passed by on the opposite side. Although no reason i
s stated, they, especially the priest, may have been motivated by concerns for ritual purity, thinking that the man was already dead or about to die (Num 5:2). The law taught that, except for close relatives, even apart from priestly service in the temple, no priest “shall make himself unclean for any dead person” (Lev 21:1–2).40 However, the end of the parable will indicate that whatever reasons they had were insufficient. They passed by “idly” when their “neighbor’s life” was “at stake” (Lev 19:16), and hence by their omission they failed to love their neighbor (Lev 19:18).

  [10:33–35]

  A third passerby is now introduced. Following typical order, one would expect a common Israelite (see Ezra 2:70; 6:16),41 but surprisingly it is a Samaritan, one who was considered an enemy. However, he too knows the Torah, and in contrast to the first two, he helps the man. For someone like the scholar who is familiar with Scripture, all this should sound familiar on account of the passage (to which the parable alludes) that recounts how leaders of Samaria helped a group of captives of Judah: “All of them who were naked they clothed, . . . gave them food and drink, anointed them, and all who were weak they set on donkeys. They brought them to Jericho” (2 Chron 28:15). There is thus a biblical precedent for showing love to one’s enemies.

  BIBLICAL BACKGROUND

  Samaritans

  The Samaritans descended from the Israelites of the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. However, Jews regarded them as having doubtful lineage on account of intermarriage with the Gentile peoples imported by the Assyrians after they conquered the northern kingdom in 721 BC and sent some Israelites into exile (2 Kings 17:6–24; 2 Chron 30:6–11).a Besides these ethnic tensions, there was an enduring religious rift associated with the Samaritans’ worship on Mount Gerizimb rather than at the Jerusalem temple (John 4:20). The †Hasmonean Jewish ruler John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim around 111 BC. Later, under the Roman prefect Coponius (AD 6–9), some Samaritans struck back by littering the Jerusalem temple with human bones at Passover, thus defiling it.c Moreover, when Cumanus was the Roman procurator (AD 48–52), Samaritans from the border village of Ginae killed a group of Galileans passing through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem for a feast.d

  This background of hostility explains the rejection of Jesus by the Samaritan villagers (Luke 9:53) but also makes the parable of the good Samaritan (10:29–37) particularly effective for teaching love of neighbor. Jesus’ healing of ten lepers also breaks down the enmity, as one of them—a Samaritan—returns to thank him (17:11–19). These passages set the stage for the Acts of the Apostles, where the gospel is proclaimed to Samaria (Acts 1:8; 8:4–25). In the new community that emerges in the land of Israel, the long-standing animosity can be overcome: “The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace” (Acts 9:31). The regathering of the Samaritans thus forms part of the program of Israel’s restoration in Luke-Acts.e

  a. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 9.277–80, 288–91. See Gary N. Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 1–101.

  b. Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans, 184, 202.

  c. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.29–30.

  d. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.118.

  e. David Ravens, Luke and the Restoration of Israel (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1995), 92–106; Richard Bauckham, “The Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts,” in The Jewish World around the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 356.

  The Samaritan was moved with compassion at the sight and approached the victim. The phrase “moved with compassion” translates the verb splanchnizomai, which up to this point has only occurred in Luke to describe Jesus’ reaction to the widow’s dead son (Luke 7:13).42 Actually, this is just one of three action verbs linking this passage to that one: both Jesus at Nain and the Samaritan in the parable “see” the problem, “are moved with compassion,” and “approach” the dead or half-dead individual (see 7:13–14). Thus the model behavior of the Samaritan has already and only been demonstrated by Jesus himself. On this basis, it is possible that Luke intends the reader to understand the Samaritan as a figure of Jesus. From here, it is just a small step to the common identification of the Samaritan with Christ that is found among the Church Fathers (see the sidebar, “Jesus the Good Samaritan”).

  LIVING TRADITION

  Jesus the Good Samaritan

  Ever since the second century, the obvious ethical meaning of the parable as an injunction to love one’s neighbor has been complemented by an allegorical interpretation in which the good Samaritan represents Jesus. For example, Irenaeus writes that human nature “had fallen in with robbers, but he had pity on it and bound its wounds.” Origen adds: “The man who was going down is Adam. . . . The Samaritan is Christ. . . . He carries the half-dead man, and brings him to . . . the Church.” Origen does not ignore the ethical lesson: “It is possible for us to imitate Christ. . . . He is speaking not so much to the teacher of the Law as to us . . . when he says, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

  Augustine also uses the allegorical interpretation: “The whole human race, you see, is that man who was lying in the road, left there by bandits half dead, who was ignored by the passing priest and Levite, while the passing Samaritan stopped by him to take care of him and help him. . . . In this Samaritan the Lord Jesus Christ wanted us to understand himself.” And again: “Robbers have left you half-dead on the road; but you’ve been found lying there by the passing and kindly Samaritan. Wine and oil have been poured into you, you have received the sacrament of the Only-begotten Son; you have been lifted onto his mule, you have believed that Christ became flesh; you have been brought to the inn, you are being cured in the Church.”a

  a. Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 3.17.3 (trans. Unger and Steenberg, 86); Origen, Homilies on Luke 34.3–9, trans. Joseph T. Lienhard, FC 94 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1996), 138–41; Augustine, Sermons 171.2 and 179A.7, in Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, 11 vols., WSA III/5 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1990–97), 5:247–48, 312.

  The Samaritan’s compassion is manifested in a series of actions by which he cared for the man. He uses the resources he has available (oil and wine, his own animal), including his own money (two silver coins—i.e., two days’ wages). He gives of his own time (the next day). He gets other people to help (the innkeeper). He promises to follow up (on my way back).

  [10:36]

  Finishing the parable, Jesus invites the scholar to draw his own conclusion: Who was neighbor to the robbers’ victim? It is important to note the change of perspective. The scholar had asked about the neighbor as the object who is to receive his love. Jesus instead presents the neighbor as the subject who gives love. However, this neighbor is a Samaritan, with whom the scholar does not readily identify, even though the Samaritan has kept the commandment better than the priest and Levite.43 Can the scholar at least acknowledge love received from a neighbor like the Samaritan whom he considers his enemy?

  [10:37]

  Still finding it difficult to say “the Samaritan,” the scholar replies: The one who treated him with mercy. His answer is again correct. Literally, it is the one who “did” (poieō) mercy. And, as earlier, Jesus’ words challenge the man not just to know the right answers, but also to do the right things, identifying even with the Samaritan: Go and do (poieō) likewise. If he does, then he too will become a neighbor who gives love, even to his enemies.

  In summary, Jesus’ teaching in the parable hearkens back to his earlier teaching: “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27, 35) and “be merciful” (6:36). Readers are summoned to become neighbors even to their enemies, by “doing” mercy to them. In that way, they will do the commandment and live.

  Reflection and Application (10:25–37)

  Go and do likewise. The good Samaritan showed mercy by caring for the sick man. Catholic tradition has highlighted such corporal works of mercy, which also include feeding the hungry, sheltering the hom
eless, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, and visiting the imprisoned (see Isa 58:6–7; Matt 25:31–46). Also emphasized are the spiritual works of mercy, which include instructing others in the faith, practicing fraternal correction, giving advice or consolation to those who need it, forgiving and bearing with those who wrong us, and praying for the living and the dead (see Catechism 2447). What works of mercy can I carry out in order to love my neighbor?

  Martha and Mary (10:38–42)

  38As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. 39She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. 40Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” 41The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. 42There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

  NT: John 11:1–2; 12:2–3

  Lectionary: Sixteenth Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C); St. Martha; Consecration of Virgins and Religious Profession