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The Good Samaritan, Romsey Abbey, Hampshire
The familiar parable of the Good Samaritan given us by the Lord in today’s gospel is an illustration of the equally familiar words, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” In Saint Luke’s account of this episode these words are uttered by a lawyer who, seeking to justify himself – that is, to show himself in a good light before others – goes on to ask to ask the Lord, “And who is my neighbour?” In both Saint Mark and Saint Matthew’s account of the same scene, it is the Lord who pronounces these familiar words in response to the lawyers’ enquiry as to the most important commandment in the law. What then can we learn from Saint Luke’s unique presentation? In essence it is this: that the lawyer or scribe, a master of the Mosaic law either way, understood the words of the law, but not their true meaning and application. And that, secondly, Christ truly comes (as he says elsewhere in the scriptures) not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it (Mt. 5:17).
