Year: 2021

“And who is my neighbour?”

There are five questions in today’s Gospel that shape our understanding of the familiar Parable of the (so‑called) Good Samaritan which illustrates the ethic of compassion. The questions belong to a deeper consideration of the radical meaning of this parable and its place in the ethical understanding that belongs not only to the interaction and connection between Judaism and Christianity but between the major religions and philosophies of the world. In other words, there is something profoundly universal communicated to us here through the idea of the law as grace and in the insistent point about the nature of our obligations towards one another in care and compassion.

Thus this Gospel highlights the idea that we are primarily and essentially social, spiritual, and intellectual beings whose lives are bound up with one another in an ethical community. In this sense, it counters the reigning ideology of our times which assumes the self-completeness of the radically autonomous individual and which leads inescapably to the technocratic mastery of anything human or non-human that would limit the negative freedom that such autonomy assumes.

The first four questions belong to the setting of the scene for the parable; the fifth belongs to its conclusion. Two of the questions are raised by “a certain lawyer;” the other three are the questions of Jesus. The whole passage assists us in the understanding of what Paul means by “walk[ing] in the Spirit” and as not being “under the law.” This is challenging since the parable illustrates precisely the meaning of the law as primary, as a given good. The point, I think, is that the law in so far as it speaks to the reality or the nature or the form of our humanity embodies our freedom and dignity and is not simply a constraint. Such is the ethical wisdom of the teachings of the sister religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and of the Hindu teaching about ‘dharma’, of the eightfold path in Buddhism, and of the concepts of ‘ren’ and ‘li’ in Confucianism, for instance, and in accord with the philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle as well, albeit in very different registers of meaning and approach. It has, in general terms, to do with a life lived in accord with reason, a reason that belongs to the order of the cosmos and the human community through which individuals find their fulfillment. That order is not simply a human construct but depends upon an abiding principle, something divine, which informs our humanity. Such is the concentrated wisdom in this Gospel.

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“Ephphatha,that is, be opened”

Are hearing and seeing merely passive senses? If so then what does that mean in terms of the activity of thought? Something seen is received by the eye; something heard is received by the ear. This suggests an activity, the activity of seeing and the activity of hearing.

What is seen and heard are there for the understanding. There is something communicated, the meaning of which we enter into through the profound activity of understanding. There is an acting upon what has been received. It is not just words which are heard or something which is seen that is received. What the words signify, what the vision reveals, is given to be understood. As Paul puts it, “the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.” Such is the spirit of understanding.

Our understanding is our wrestling with the significance of things. It is a profoundly spiritual activity. It speaks to who we are in the sight of God – those to whom God reveals himself and into whose presence he gathers us. Hearing and seeing, as the senses of understanding, are the ‘intellectual senses.’ They signify an acting upon what is received. There is a similar double-sidedness to our “being opened”.

In the Gospel for today, “they bring unto [Jesus] one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech.” They beseech the healing touch of Jesus upon the one that is deaf and at least impeded in his speech to the point that others must speak for him. There is, in response, the putting of his fingers into his ears, a spitting upon the ground, the touching of his tongue – all outward, tangible and physical acts – but, as well, there is Jesus’ “looking up to heaven,” his sighing and his saying unto him “Ephphatha, be opened.” There is, in short, a healing: “and straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.”

As with all the healing miracles of the gospels, they signify the restoration of our humanity. What is wanted is not the deformity of our being but its constant progress towards perfection. What is wanted is our being made totally and completely adequate to the truth of God; in short, our being opened to God signals our willingness to do what God wills for us. The project of the Trinity season is the constant process of being transformed more and more into who we are in Christ through our being opened to his grace and glory.

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