5th Sunday after Pentecost

It is not enough to have the right thoughts.  The Gospel reading this week is the parable of the Good Samaritan. Given the dangers of the Jerusalem to Jericho road, the traveller was unwise to travel alone.  However, one of the main purposes of this passage is to look at the responses of the three people who passed by.  First was the priest who was unwilling to touch what he thought might be a dead body because it would make him ceremonially unclean.  Next was the Levite who was perhaps worried that it was a trap and he would be attacked.  Finally, there was a Samaritan, or perhaps he was just referred to as a Samaritan because he was theologically unsound.  After all, Jesus was referred to as a Samaritan (John 8:48).  Whatever his racial background and theological position, we know that this man was honest and credit worthy because the inn keeper trusted him.  But, of course, the greatest quality of the good Samaritan was that he acted.  It is entirely feasible that both the priest and the Levite felt sorry for the injured traveller but the key difference between them and the good Samaritan is that the latter did something about it.  Sadly, in the Christian life, it is not enough to just have the right thoughts.  We need to demonstrate love in practice.  Jesus parting words to the enquirer about who is my neighbour are not “Go and think like this” but, rather, “Go and DO likewise.