Shifting Focus
A reflection on the Gospel of Luke 10:25–37
This is probably one of the most moving parables of Luke’s gospel — the Parable of the Good Samaritan. There are so many ways to reflect on this well-known parable. One thing sticks out, however — Jesus wants us to shift our focus.
In the gospel the scholar of the law asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Instead of answering directly, Jesus shifted the focus of the scholar to his expertise — the law. He asked the scholar, “What’s in the law?” The legal expert replied, to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. Again, when the scholar asked Jesus, “who is my neighbor,” Jesus told a parable about a man who was robbed, beaten, and left to die on the road. Jesus shifted the focus of the scholar once again. The parable was very clear — the one who was “moved with compassion” and exercised mercy is the one who was neighbor to the robber’s victim. Jesus shifted focus to an unexpecting protagonist, the Samaritan, whose people were despised by the Jews, priests, and Levites.
What a shift indeed! In our day, we all want to be the Good Samaritan. I believe that we have hearts that want to reach out to people, be mercy for others, being Christ to one another. We also cannot ignore, though, the realities of daily life — we have work to go to, families to take care of, our own health to look after, and of course, we need to rest. We live in the tension of being faithful to living out God’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves and the limitations of daily life. It’s true, we cannot help every single person we encounter who is in need.
Jesus helped to shift the focus of the scholar of the law and he wants us to shift our focus, too. Yes, we are all busy and have competing priorities. None of us can help everyone, but we all can help. Perhaps Jesus is shifting us toward developing an attitude and mindset in which we are ready to help whenever we can and wherever we can.
Originally published at http://bridgingourworlds.wordpress.com on October 5, 2022.