Transcript
Before he died, Pope Francis cited our parable of the Good Samaritan when criticising current immigration policies around the world where people were being urged to prioritise their own communities and country before caring for others. And Pope Francis stated that Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others. Christian love should be open to all without exception. The most obvious lesson Jesus is teaching is that we must be like this despised Samaritan and take pity on anyone in need no matter what his colour, race, age, sexual orientation or religion. The problem is that we are all too busy like the Priest and the Levite we are unwilling to get involved, to stick our necks out. The question we ask ourselves is, ‘What will happen to me if I stop and help?’ Will I be late for my appointment? Will I have to get involved with the police? And we’ve probably all heard of modern ‘Good Samaritans’ even being taken to court because of the way their effort to help unravelled. We might need to overcome our fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death, such is the state of litigation in our legal systems today. However, the question the Samaritan asked himself was, ‘What will happen to this person if I don’t stop?’ And that’s the question Jesus asks of each of us, ‘What will happen to this person if you don’t stop?’