Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 82 No. 3, 2012.
Original scientific paper
Go and do the Same Yourself! (Lk 10:25-37)
Mario Cifrak
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The greatest commandment is about love, whereby the love to God, our Lord and to our neighbour is placed at the same level; we read about it in the synoptic Gospels (cf. Mark 12:28-34par). In Luke’s Gospel, this great commandment is quoted by a lawyer who had an additional question for Jesus: Who is my neighbour? In order to answer the question, Jesus tells us a parable of the good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:30-35). The answer to the question on who our neighbours are and making a value judgment was initiated by the question put by Jesus in Luke 10:36; it refers to the retold parable of three people who were passing by the robbed and injured man: a priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. Finally, we discover that his neighbour is the one who showed pity towards him. The good Samaritan is an image of our Lord, who is our neighbour and whom we should love above everything. To do this means to inherit eternal life. Jesus gives us very specific directions: »Go and do the same, yourself« (Luke 10:37).
Keywords
the greatest Commandment about love; our neighbour; a good Samaritan; imitatio Dei; eternal life
Hrčak ID:
90430
URI
Publication date:
8.11.2012.
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