Where does justice end and charity begin? Are we required to give to the poor in justice or in charity? The Fathers of the Church, such as St John Chrysostom (344-407), argued that any excess wealth we possess is really the property of the poor. God intends the goods of creation to be used for the well-being of all people, and therefore anything we possess beyond our own needs should in justice be given to the poor.

In today’s Gospel we hear one of the most powerful of Jesus’s parables, the story of the Good Samaritan. As the man lies half dead on the road a priest and a Levite pass by on the other side. Perhaps they are afraid of touching a half-dead man and infringing laws of purity, or maybe they think that stopping might put their own lives in danger. Whatever their reasons, we are right to feel scandalised by their actions. Here are the very men who represent the Law and the justice of God, yet when it comes to putting that Law into action they are found wanting.

In today’s first reading Moses tells the people that the Law of God is not beyond their power ‘the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance’. What is required of the priest and the Levite is not some super-human feat, but what should come naturally to us as human beings; justice moved in compassion.It is the Samaritan who shows the truly human reaction to this stricken man, caring for his wounds and transporting him to a place of safety and rest. The contrast is calculated to shock. Those who represent the Law are given a lesson in how to keep the Law by one who is deemed to be outside it. Their lack of compassion shows how shallow the Law is in their hearts, and the half-dead man on the road reveals the deeper disfigurement of the humanity in their own hearts.

The Fathers of the Church saw in the story of the Good Samaritan the pattern of our lives and if we look carefully, it is not difficult to see why. The stricken man is an image of our own fallen nature; bowed down and bleeding, unable to raise ourselves from the dust. The priest and the Levite are our disfigured hearts; our inability to reach out in compassion to heal and carry others.

What does this teach us about following Jesus Christ? Firstly, we must continually work for justice. Each of us is baptised into the Kingship of Christ and therefore we each represent the justice of God’s Kingdom. The love of Jesus Christ carries us beyond the requirements of justice, bringing peace and healing where hope was lost.

Jesus evidently had quite a complicated relationship with the Samaritans. In the Fourth Gospel he is actually accused of being a Samaritan and demon-possessed: he denies having a demon but says nothing about not being a Samaritan. Famously, of course, in one of the greatest episodes in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for water from Jacob’s well, which leads to her beginning to identify who he might be. He was never afraid of communicating with people with whom he did not agree.

Obviously, with the parable, the test that Jesus sets his fellow Jewish interlocutor is to realise that the one who loves as a neighbour is the heretical Samaritan, showing compassion in practical ways, apparently with no religious commitments or scruples one way or the other — in contrast spectacularly to the professional holy men from the Temple — once again, as so often, the teaching of Jesus is that there is no loving God independently of showing mercy to the victims left abandoned by the side of the road. Furthermore, in rejecting the mutual hostility between his own people and the Samaritans, Jesus transcends all boundary expectations. It is not social definitions such as religion, or ethnicity, or as we might add today class and gender, that determines who is our neighbour.

For some, there may be a temptation to focus on the negative elements of the story: the brigands, the priest, the Levite. Jesus emphasizes the goodness and the great capabilities of human nature. Jesus gives us the true meaning of Deuteronomy and the Law. While we continue to support our favourite charities, there are situations and circumstances where we are personally challenged to become involved.

This is the precise point of the Good Samaritan story. The potential to do great things is deep within each person and yearns to be expressed in real life situations. When will we die to our fears, so that we can see Jesus in those marginalized or despised? When will we take the risk of spontaneous action?

‘Master what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Go and do the same yourself…’