Who is My Neighbour (Monday, Week 27, Year 2)

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In the first reading (Gal. 1:6-12), St Paul addressed the Galatians who seemed to have shifted from the true gospel to the one coming from men. And he strongly appealed to them to beware of those who pervert the gospel of Christ. The Gospel (Good news) is all about the love, justice and mercy of God which the cross powerfully communicates. Any other “gospel” that does not reflect love, mercy and justice is a perversion of the true gospel.     

In the gospel reading (Luke 10:25-37), we see a man whose response to a situation gave flesh to the gospel message of love and mercy. The Parable of the Good Samaritan which today’s gospel narrated is a response to the question: Who is my neighbour? Let us note that the first person to see the man half dead was a priest who understood the word “neighbour” from what the law could possibly allow as regards his own state. The law allows that a priest should not get close to a dead person. Thus, no matter what could be the situation, the definition of the law takes precedence. The same applied to the Levite (a priest-in-making). But the Good Samaritan chose to follow the direction of love instead of the stipulation of the “law”. The Creation Account of the Book of Genesis should remind us that God created man and gave him a companion, a neighbour, in the person of Eve, to love and cherish and take care of. God did not first give him a body of laws to be observed. He gave him a neighbour to be loved.

I think this is one of the major problems in our world today. People seemed to have placed every other thing over and above the human being. We can bring up a thousand and one good reasons to pass by when someone is in need and cross to other side (like the priest and the Levite). We may say: “Well, according to history, we are not supposed to get too close to such and such people. We may say that the person claiming that he or she needs help may be a fraudster, a criminal in disguise. We may claim that something else may happen to us; and so on”. If we are to stick to all these excuses and boundaries, then we do not understand who our neighbour is. The word “neighbour” goes beyond what the law of land has defined it to be, it goes beyond our personal considerations; it goes beyond boundaries of whatever kind. Our neighbour is any person in need, in need of our relationship, love and care. Just as Jesus told the lawyer, He also tells us, “Go and do likewise”.


     


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