Three surprises from the Good Samaritan

Today (9 September) is the feast of St Peter Claver, one of the jesuits whose life has tremendously inspired me. Pope Leo XIII said that it’s the life of St Peter Claver that inspired him the most after the life of Jesus Christ. He was a slave to the slaves — people who were taken from Africa as slaves to Latin America to work in the plantations and Claver cared for them.So the special reading of today has the passage of the good Samaritan. I would like to speak about three surprises from this passage shared by our superior during his homily.

1. Why did Samaritan stop on the way while others didn’t? Probably he had a similar experience of being injured in the past. It’s difficult to say exactly why. But, interestingly he carried along with him bandages and poured oil and wine. I am not sure whether these were carried by all travellers, but it’s a surprising thing too.
2. Samaritan did his work and moved on. He took the charge for some time, but let the doctors take the charge later. He didn’t even wait for thank you. He did his significant part and then went to the background.
3. The initial question is “who is my neighbour?” It’s transformed into a different logic, when Jesus asks at the end, “which of these was as a neighbour to the injured man?” Christianity of Jesus is much less about titles/dignified positions, but about actions which will make us a neighbour or which will make us serve God as we serve the least of our brothers and sisters.