Homily for Monday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, a lawyer asks Jesus two important questions. First, he wants to know, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus encourages him to think about the command to love God and love your neighbor.

Next, the lawyer asks, “And who is my neighbor?” He may be asking this to justify why he doesn’t treat everyone as his neighbor. In response, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan.

When we look closely at the parable, we see that it does not directly answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Instead, it answers a different question: “Which of these three people acted like a neighbor?” The parable shows what it means to be a true neighbor. Jesus implies that being a neighbor is more important than simply defining who a neighbor is. The main lesson is that everyone is our neighbor.

We could also say that the answer to the lawyer’s first question—“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”—is to be a good neighbor. If you want to understand what it means to be a neighbor, look at the Samaritan’s actions. The priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan all see the wounded man on the road. What sets the Samaritan apart is that he chooses to help.

The priest and the Levite likely saw the wounded man but focused only on their religious laws, which they thought were more important than showing kindness. Their way of thinking stopped them from helping. In contrast, the Samaritan’s point of view was filled with compassion and mercy. This perspective is similar to how Jesus views others. So, His answer to the lawyer’s first question is: “Be a good neighbor, just like I am.”