Good Samaritan Sunday

Doesn’t it feel good to be ‘nice’ to other people?

Have you ever wondered though why we are nice to other people to begin with?

I once read an influential scientists’ explanation for it. He wrote that being nice to others was a remnant of evolution. Back in the day when early humans lived in large family clans, they had to look out for each in order to preserve the family genes. For the sake of the survival of the genetic code, people were nice to each other, they helped each other and looked out for each other. He argued people today are nice to each other for this very primitive reason.

There may be some truth here, but… why aren’t people good, loving and kind to each other all the time? We have all been hurt at one point in our lives by people very close to us. There is always drama, strain and betrayal in human relationships.

I often wonder if Jesus’ call to love others as he shows in today’s parable of the Good Samaritan comes naturally to us or if it’s part of our high and supernatural calling as Christians.

Moses said in today’s first reading that we must keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord – and that these are very near to us – already in our mouths and in our hearts.

Our own personal conscience can certainly guide us in our actions and decisions, serving as a measuring stick. It can be our own guide and judge. Yet we often fall short of our personal expectations, others’ expectations and most importantly God’s expectations.

To be a Good Samaritan does not come naturally to us. To be a Good Samaritan is more than just being nice to others. To be a Good Samaritan requires divine guidance, it requires the eyes of faith.

Jesus calls us to imitate the Good Samaritan not just to be a nice guy or gal, but because we are called to recognize the dignity of every person. We are to recognize every person regardless of sex, color, language, legal status etc. as part of God’s creation, made in His own image and likeness.

Yet this doesn’t come easy – we need help.

Anyone can be nice to another fellow human being, but only a Christian can see God’s presence in another fellow human being and treat him or her accordingly.

How about when a person commits a heinous crime? Or if a person enters the country illegally? Or they are simply too selfish and conceited, making it difficult to love them?

These people too are part of God’s creation with a dignity worthy of respect. Recognition of this requires grace.

Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan doesn’t call us to go out, risk our lives and become super heroes. It does however invite us to reach out, to be understanding and to recognize the infinite dignity and value of every human person.

This is the Christian vision of humanity. And this should be our own vision.

Others may want people to be nice to each other to achieve a civil society and keep peace. But Jesus calls us to love and respect each other, because in doing, so we honor and give glory to God, recognizing God’s presence in each other.

In light of this, we could show some pity and understanding toward the two men who didn’t stop to help the injured man. They did not see the man on the side of the road as a fellow human being worthy of love and respect because God dwells in him.

Let’s ask Jesus today to help us be like the Samaritan, recognizing the needs of every fellow human being no matter what his or her situation may be. We are all children of God, we are all sharers of the divine nature of Jesus Christ. It’s not our task to separate and classify – it is our task to unite all under the banner of Christ.