45 My Monologues:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Samaritan (Lk10)

Dear Samaritan Brother,

You are introduced and presented by the Lord as the prime and powerful character in the parable. I am very much tempted to believe there must have been a good, live Samaritan, living anonymously and doing good unassumingly in spite of being a victim of racial prejudice. Don't you think so?

Do grant me the privilege and joy to listen to your Monologues and Musings and be honored.

Good Samaritan, "I am more than happy to share a piece of my mind with you.....

As I was coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho I was thinking of the age old rivalry and enmity between us, the Samaritans and our blood brothers from Judea who pride themselves to be the "pure bred Jews".

Sure,  they don't like us, they consider us as half Jews as we have had mixed blood. Besides,  there is still the anger and the hate generated centuries ago over the division of undivided Kingdom of Solomon. After the partition, more than once our Northern Kingdom had attacked and many of our ancestors were deported out of the county and were forced to inter marry and thus our racial purity was lost.

So we were always considered as second class Jews, half Jews, unfaithful Jews, and abominable. There was strife between us. We were cruel to each other...

They belittle us. despise us.. We too hate them and fight them back.

They keep boasting about their racial superiority. We don't like each other passing through our respective territories. But we just tolerate..

I often wonder why on earth should we be holding on to our ancestral enmity? Though we can't change the past we can certainly try to shape our future,can't we?

As I was thinking something like these and trudging my way down to Jericho I happened to notice  someone wounded and abandoned on the wayside. I felt pity on him and did all that I could save him.. It didn't occur to me to find out whether he is a pure Jew or a half Jew or even a gentile.

I am glad to know the Jesus, the Rabbi spoke highly of me. All that I did was to attend to a fellow human being whose life was  in danger! I couldn't just leave him unattended. That's what I learned from the Torah and was taught at home."

Oh, dear Samaritan Brother,

Thank you for allowing me to have a glimpse of your inner self.

I am humbled!

How I wish! I could be so open and uninhibited like you! How I wish! I could see others as fellow humans irrespective of their Creed, Color, or Caste!

How I wish! I could be generous enough to go out of my way to help out the needy fellow humans!

Dear Priest, dear Levite,

To be frank,  my initial reaction of you is critical and negative. How could you be so callous to have passed by the other side! Though I am strongly tempted to be judgemental of you, I want to hold it and request you to share your feelings and thoughts as you felt them.

I would be honored to listen to your Musings and Monologues.....

The Priest and the Levite:

"Though we did see someone lying wounded on the way side we didn't pay much attention as it is a frequent sight on this notoriously dangerous pathway. We were also scared of our own safety. Besides, if the wounded man was already dead, then to come into contact with a dead body would mean defiling ourselves and we would not be able to perform our liturgical /religious services. We had our own errands to do and we couldn't get distracted by involving with his case......

After all we are almost exclusively set apart for liturgical/religious matters and we are not to be distracted by such mundane happenings. Let others bother about these things.... "

Dear Priest and Levite,

You know why I was so critical of you both? It is because when I look at you and your reactions I see myself very clearly. I have reacted like you when I found myself in similar situations. Being a priest,erected  I almost automatically put an air of superiority.

To make it worse, I have often  been under some sort of Pharisaical Superiority. As a result, I didn't care to bother myself with getting involved or coming forward to help those in need.

Even now, at times, I catch myself behaving so.

Oh, the Lawyer longing to learn,

Though you are a pundit in Jewish Law you seem to want to learn more of the ways and means "to inherit eternal life", right?

Sure, you did ask the Master right question. Strangely the Master facilitated you to answer your own question which you did rightly.

But as per the Narratives, you asked questions,

"to test" the Master,

to seize him up,

and to trap him,

didn't you?

During my days, both as a seminarian and as student-priest, I used to ask questions to test, to seize up, and to give trouble to the professors and chuckle within myself! Even now I do it with people whom I perceive as a threat to my overblown ego!

There is a Mini Lawyer of you in me!

You and I know who our neighbors are, don't we? Instead what you and I need to keep asking ourselves is what could we do for our neighbors, right?

Dear Jesus, My Master,

It was to highlight the Samaritan issue  rather than advising to help others in need, that you narrated the parable, right?

Your own fellow Jews were highly contemptuous of the Samaritans which was totally unacceptable to God the Father of all. You wanted them never ever to be prejudiced against an entire group of people or an entire race or as whole of a nation as totally bad or inferior.  

Lord, let me always be aware of the fact that there are people and persons whom I hold as Samaritans!  I need to see and treat them as your children and my fellow humans!

Oh, My Lord and My God,

I would like to spend some time in silence in your presence and count all those whom I consider as Samaritan and see as my neighbors in need!

Amen

JoAchen

Sunday, 7th June, 2015

Joachenmonologues@gmail.com

Dear Reader,
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. These are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my  personal renewal and spiritual growth. They are a part of the journaling of a 'Prodigal Priest' on my Pilgrimage to the Home of our Heavenly Father.

You are welcome to share them.
Dear Reader, I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours.

I plan on uploading a Reflection each on 7th, 14th, 21st, and on the 28th of every month.
Thank you!