In what is probably the best-known parable in the gospels, the Good Samaritan, we are presented with a young man who is looking to serve God. He knows that we need to love the Lord our God with our whole minds, hearts and souls, and love our neighbor as ourselves, but he wants to cover all bases and asks, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus presents two Temple ministers, a Levite and a priest. These people know the law, at least theoretically. They also know that if they touched someone whom the law said would be defiled in any way, they could not perform their service in the Temple. They had the written law, but they did not have the law of God in their hearts. So, they walked past the injured man on the side of the road. The law of God is written in our hearts. We do not need written rules to govern every aspect of our lives. We do not need a law that says that as Christians, we cannot pass by injured travelers. In the parable, even a Samaritan knew that. We reach out to others because, through them, we are reaching out to God. The lawyer’s question may not have been sincere. He may have been more concerned with testing Jesus than with finding a true answer. But we are genuine when we ask his question: What is it that we need to do to inherit eternal life? Or, more directly, how can we love God? Jesus gives us the answer: we need to look within ourselves and reach out to God’s Presence wherever our hearts find Him.
