The Parable of the Good Samaritan was, for the first thousand years of the Church's life, understood to be a teaching about God's role in salvation. The Good Samaritan, who does not obey the ritual law is able to save the man when the religious leaders are not.
You do not have to earn your way into Heaven. God, in Christ Jesus, comes to us. That's such an important point that I wonder why we keep forgetting to hammer it home? Maybe because it's so hard to accept.
As one of the commentaries tries to do, writing “Who is the neighbour? The religious person? The legal expert? The fellow Jew? No! The neighbour is the person who acts in a neighbourly way — the person who helps.” We have always managed to push this parable into the direction of a morality lesson rather than the exposition of a profound cosmic paradox.
Where is St. Paul when we need him?
Ahhh. Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, solus vicinus, soli deo gloria.
Which were paraphrased in the words of contemporary theologian will.i.am in his theological tome, Hey Ya: “I am your neighbor, give me some sugar.”
Good stuff! Thank you for the wisdom and balance of a faith that works and a work that is grounded in faith.