Reflections on the 8th Sunday of St Luke

A lawyer approaches Christ, asking, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This question, is not abstract. Eternal life is not merely the afterlife; it is life in the Lord, beginning even now. This is the goal, as St Seraphim of Sarov says " The goal of every Christian is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit." Our mother, the Church, gives us the formula if you will, to accomplish this. The sacraments given to us, work as a medicine, healing the damaged soul and purifying it. The Lord then directs him to the Scriptures: “Love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself.” And seeking to justify himself, the lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?” The Lord answers by telling us a story, a very useful story. A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The Fathers see Jerusalem as the place of communion with God, and Jericho as the world of passions and corruption. The descent from Jerusalem (remember Jerusalem is set on a hilltop) symbolizes the fall of Adam—our fall—away from the presence of God. The robbers are the demons who strip the soul of virtue, of peace, and leave it “half-dead". This is the human condition apart from Christ, nearly dead in sin. The priest and the Levite see the dying man yet “pass by on the other side.” They are not mocked or condemned here, Christ is revealing that the old Law, though holy, could not heal humanity’s deepest sickness.

The Law could diagnose sin but could not restore the soul.

The lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?”

But Christ ends by asking, “Which of these was neighbor to the man?”

The question is not:

“Whom must I love?”

but rather:

“What kind of person have I become?” It is a call to look inside ourselves, at the state of our hearts. The Christian is one whose heart has been shaped by Christ’s mercy.

The world does not need more opinions.

The world needs healed people who know how to heal others.

The world needs people who have first been healed by Christ.

Christ ends with a command:

“Go, and do likewise.”

This command is not optional, nor is it metaphorical. May we, having been healed by Christ, become healers. May we, having received mercy, become merciful. And may we, at the end of our journey, be found to have loved with the love that flows from the heart of Christ.

To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.