Vigils Reading – 15th Sunday Ord

THE PARABLE OF

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

From a commentary by Origen of Alexandria

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To interpret the parable of the Good Samaritan, one of the elders used to

say that the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho was Adam. He said

Jerusalem was paradise, Jericho was the world, and the brigands were enemy

powers. The priest was the law, the Levite the prophets, and the Samaritan

Christ. Adam’s wounds were his disobedience, the animal that carried him was

the body of the Lord, and the “inn”, open to all who wished to enter, was the

Church. The two denarii represented the Father and the Son, and the innkeeper

was the head of the Church, who was entrusted with its administration. The

promised return of the Samaritan was a figure of the second coming of the

Savior.

The Samaritan was carrying oil – oil to make his face shine as Scripture

says, referring surely to the face of the man he cared for. He cleansed the man’s

wounds with oil to soothe the inflammation and with wine that made them

smart, and then placed him on his own mount, that is, on his own body, since he

had condescended to assume our humanity. This Samaritan bore our sins and

suffered on our behalf; he carried the half dead man to the inn which takes in

everyone, denying no one its help; in other words, to the Church. To this inn

Jesus invites all when he says: Come to me, all who labor and are

overburdened, and I will give you new strength.

After bringing in the man half dead the Samaritan did not immediately

depart, but remained and dressed his wounds by night as well as by day,

showing his concern and doing everything he could for him. In the morning

when he wished to set out again he took from his own purse silver coins, from

his own sterling money, two denarii to pay the innkeeper – clearly the angel of

the Church – and ordered him to nurse with all diligence and restore to health

the man whom for a short time he himself had personally tended.

I think the two denarii stand for knowledge of the Father and the Son in

the Father. This was given to the angel as a recompense, so that he would care

more diligently for the man entrusted to him. He was also promised that

whatever he spent of his own in healing him would be repaid.

This guardian of souls who showed mercy to the man who fell into the

hands of robbers was a better neighbor to him than were either the law or the

prophets, and he proved this more by deeds than by words. Now the saying: Be

imitators of me as I am of Christ makes it clear that we can imitate Christ by

showing mercy to those who have fallen into the hands of brigands. We can go to

them, bandage their wounds after pouring in oil and wine, place them on our

own mount, and bear their burdens. And so the Son of God exhorts us to do

these things, in words addressed not only to the teacher of the law but to all of

us: Go and do likewise. If we do, we shall gain eternal life in Christ Jesus, to

whom belongs glory and power for ever and ever.