Homily on the Good Samaritan

-Origen of Alexandria

 

Homily 34.

On the Gospel of Luke 10:25–37. Reading 53.

Although the Law contains many commandments, the Saviour in the Gospel establishes only a few of them, and those who keep them are led by the shortest path to eternal life. Therefore, in the passage from Luke read today, a certain lawyer asked Jesus: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” He replied: “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.” Then Jesus said to him: “You have answered rightly; do this, and you shall live” (Luke 10:27–28). Without doubt the lawyer was asking about eternal life, and the Saviour’s words referred to that very thing. At the same time, the commandment given in the Law plainly teaches us to love God. In Deuteronomy it is written: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deut. 6:4–5) and so forth, and “you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” The Saviour bears witness concerning these two commandments and says: “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:40).

Yet the lawyer, “wanting to justify himself,” shows that he has no neighbour by asking: “And who is my neighbour?” In reply the Lord tells the parable that begins: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho” and so on. He teaches that this traveller was neighbour to no one except the one who desired to fulfil the commandment and prepared himself to become neighbour to everyone in need of help. For at the end of the parable it is said: “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36). His neighbour turned out to be neither the priest nor the Levite, but—as the lawyer himself said—“the one who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him: “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37).

One of the elders interpreted this parable as follows: The man who went down is Adam. Jerusalem is Paradise, Jericho is the world, the robbers are the hostile powers, the priest is the Law, the Levite is the Prophets, the Samaritan is Christ, the wounds are acts of disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body, the inn that receives everyone who wishes to enter is the Church. The two denarii signify the Father and the Son, the innkeeper is the head of the Church, to whom its care is entrusted. And the Samaritan’s promise to return symbolises Christ’s Second Coming.

All this is, of course, reasonable and beautiful, yet we must not think that it applies to every single person, for not everyone “goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho,” nor does everyone live in the world for that purpose—even though He who was “sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24) travels this way. The man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho “fell among robbers” because he himself wished to go. And the robbers are the same ones of whom the Saviour speaks: “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). Yet it was not thieves who attacked him, but robbers, who are far worse than thieves. He fell among them while going down from Jerusalem. They “stripped him, wounded him, and departed.” What are these wounds that the robbers inflicted on the man? They are vices and sins.

Thus the robbers who stripped and wounded the traveller did not help him but beat him and went away, “leaving him half dead.” It happened that a priest was going down that road first, and then a Levite. Perhaps they did much good for other people, but not for this man who “went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” The priest saw him (I believe he signifies the Law) and the Levite (the prophetic word) saw him; and when they saw him, they passed by on the other side. Providence preserved this half-dead man for one who is stronger than the Law and the Prophets—for the Samaritan, whose name means “Guardian.” He is the One of whom it is said: “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Ps. 120/121:4). The Samaritan did not set out “from Jerusalem to Jericho” as the priest and Levite did, who travelled that road; rather, He was travelling that way in order to save this half-dead man. The Jews said to Him: “You are a Samaritan and have a demon” (John 8:48); and though He denied having a demon, He did not wish to deny that He was a Samaritan, because He knew that He is the Guardian.

So when the Samaritan came to this half-dead man and saw him lying in his blood, He had compassion on him and drew near to him in order to become his neighbour. He “bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine”—but He did not say what the prophet said: “wounds neither closed nor bound up nor soothed with oil” (Isa. 1:6). This Samaritan is the One in whose care and help all who suffer stand in need. The man who went down from Jerusalem and fell among robbers was wounded and left half-dead; more than anyone he needed the Samaritan’s help. You must understand that, by God’s providence, this Samaritan was travelling in order to care for the man who had fallen among robbers—this is evident because He had bandages, oil, and wine with Him. I think the Samaritan carried all these things not only for this one man, but also for others who, for various reasons, had been wounded and needed bandages, oil, and wine.

He had oil, of which it is said: “oil to make his face shine” (Ps. 103/104:15)—undoubtedly meaning the face of the one who is healed. The Samaritan anoints the wounds with oil to reduce the swelling, and pours on wine to cleanse, yet also adding what stings. Then He sets the wounded man “on His own beast”—that is, on His own body, for He condescended to become man. The Samaritan “took on Himself our infirmities” (Matt. 8:17; Isa. 53:4) and bore our griefs. He brought the wounded man to an inn—that is, to the Church, which receives everyone and refuses help to no one. Jesus calls everyone to the Church, saying: “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

After the Samaritan brings the half-dead man to the inn, He does not depart immediately but remains with him in the inn for another day, tending the wounds not only by day but also by night. He devotes all His attention to the sick man and zealously gives him all His time. And when He is about to leave in the morning, from His tested silver, from His tested money, He gives “two denarii” to the innkeeper. Without doubt this innkeeper was an angel of the Church, to whom the Samaritan entrusted the care of the wounded man (whom He Himself had tended for a while) and the task of nursing him back to health. The “two denarii,” as it seems to me, are the knowledge of the Father and the Son and the understanding of the mystery of how the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. This knowledge is given to the angel as payment so that he may care for the man entrusted to him, and he is promised that if he spends more on healing this half-dead man, it will be repaid to him.

The Samaritan who had compassion on the man who fell among robbers is truly the “Guardian” of souls—closer than the Law and the Prophets—and He showed this not by word but by deed. And if we judge by the verse: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 4:16), then we too can imitate Christ and have compassion on those who “have fallen among robbers.” We can draw near to them, bind up their wounds, pouring on oil and wine, set them on our own beasts, and bear their burdens. To this the Son of God calls us, who speaks not so much to the lawyer as to us and to all people: “Go, and do thou likewise.” If we do so, we shall be counted worthy of eternal life in Christ Jesus, “to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Pet. 4:11).