THE WORD
Gal 1,6-12 / Lk 10,25-37
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
He 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.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus 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. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He 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. The 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.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Dr. Romy Paredes, the Ultimate Healing advocate, claimed that there are only two causes of sickness: toxicity and deficiency. Toxic is the substance acquired in our body that should not be there. Deficiency, on the other hand, means that a certain substance is lacking in our body. The ultimate solutions are detoxication and nourishment.
This concept is also true and can really be applied into our spiritual life. We become spiritually weak every time we are guilty of sin of omission (deficiency) and commission (toxicity). Thus we have to detoxify and nourish ourselves spiritually. And the result would be healing and transformation.
In the Gospel, the scholar of the law asked to Jesus: who is my neighbor? The Lord responded by telling a parable. And the lawyer realized that the priest and the Levite in the parable were not worthy of being called a neighbor because they had the deficiency in extending help to the robbers’ victim. This kind of deficiency would make one fall short in achieving eternal life. Thus, one needs to be nourished by showing more compassion and mercy as it was shown by the Samaritan traveler whose heart knows no color, boundary, race and religious affiliation.
I suppose that the intoxication (too much indoctrination) of man-made law and religious prejudice like that of exclusivity was the real reason why the priest and the Levite avoided themselves to be neighbors to the wounded. They had to act according to the law of their time. They need to be detoxicated by the innovative and transformative interpretation of the law by Jesus himself in order that they can perform what a believer of God ought to do.
In the parable we are all invited to: 1.) nourish our deficiency by being a neighbor to whoever we encounter in our journey, to those who are physically and socially wounded or victims of any kind of violence and injustice, and 2.) detoxify ourselves from too much legalism, indiff erence, exclusiveness and racism. Do this and you will live.
- Fr. Semie Rebayla, SVD | Agusan del Sur
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
