At two o’clock in the morning on a rainy, cold winter night, the station alarm tones sound to alert the firefighters to a serious motor vehicle accident on the interstate. As more information comes in from dispatch, it becomes known that a fugitive fleeing from law enforcement collided with a car occupied by a family of four. The innocent family is reported to be deceased at the scene. Despite the horrific accident, the fleeing suspect miraculously survived and desperately needs immediate life-saving interventions to stabilize his critical condition. The first responder crew is instructed by command to initiate care and do everything possible to save his life. The burden of having to rescue the man who, moments before, recklessly murdered an entire family, weighs heavily upon the firefighters’ consciences. Thousands of thoughts race through their minds as they approach the man lying upon the side of the road, mutilated from head to toe with traumatic injuries. Yet, one question remains predominant in the minds of every first responder present: why should I help this man?
In emergency medical and firefighting training, we are told that there will be times in the line of duty when our consciences experience immense amounts of interior strife and turmoil. Yet, despite the heartbreak, the pain, and the unfairness of life, we are asked to serve all those who cry out for help in the community. To be a good first responder, one must not only seek technical expertise, but must also manifest the Christian virtues of humility and charity. For it is when one humbles himself that he is better able to recognize the face of Christ in the most vulnerable in society. The firefighters in the story above embraced this difficult, yet loving, mindset and arduously fought to save the life of the man. They did not look upon him as a murderer or even as a criminal, but as a child of God who, much like themselves, was a sinner in need of forgiveness and healing. In the cold and chill, they labored intensely with the same dedication and resolution that they would if it had been one of their own family.
I tell this tragic story because it helps us to ask ourselves a question that is all too often forgotten in our world: “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). This inquiry was made in the Gospel of Luke by a certain scholar of the law. Jesus responds to this question in the form of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story, a man was attacked and beaten by robbers who left him for dead on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite ignore the suffering afflictions of the man and pass him by on the opposite side. However, a Samaritan “was moved with compassion at the sight [of the victim]” (Luke 10:33). Despite his people traditionally being at odds with the Jewish people, he approached the mutilated man and tenderly cared for his wounds. Indeed, the Samaritan was the true neighbor to the victim.
Yet, what is the Blessed Lord trying to convey to the scholar in this parable? How did the Samaritan recognize the Jewish man as his neighbor? To understand this, we must look at what is said earlier in the passage when the scholar of the law asked Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25). Anticipating the young man’s knowledge of the law, Jesus asks the scholar to reiterate what is established in Scripture. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). When the Samaritan encountered the robbed individual, he stepped outside of himself to see what truly lay before him on the side of the road. In a profound act of humble charity, he cast aside his interior cultural prejudices to embrace the vulnerability of the victim. The Samaritan understood what it means to love God with all his heart and being. For he loves the Lord by loving those whom the Lord loves. That is, he sees those of the world as God sees them. He reaches out to them in the same transcendental way that Jesus Christ humbled Himself to share our humanity. He stoops low enough to love them in their most fragile state. The other individuals who passed by the poor man did so to abide by the law, which would deem them ritualistically unclean from touching the blood of another man. While they obey the law to remain clean, they fail to see beyond themselves and the veil of pride that blinds them from seeing God in their neighbor. The Samaritan is able to recognize his neighbor because he embraces true, authentic humility.
In today’s world, we find ourselves asking the same question as the scholar of the law who approached Jesus: who is my neighbor? While it is true that it is impossible for one person to help every soul that exists on earth, God, in His Providence, places certain individuals in our lives for specific purposes. Whether they be family, friends, or strangers, these people are those beloved sons and daughters who God desires us to see as He sees. By patterning our practices on the deeds and actions of the Good Samaritan, we must earnestly be open to receiving those placed upon our path by Divine Providence. As we live life, we must constantly search for the little, lowly infant Jesus in this world. For He exists in the most vulnerable of our neighbors. We find Him in the poor and afflicted, the sorrowful and the sick, the lonely and the forgotten. We find Him in the tired worker, the unborn child, and the hated enemy. Therefore, let us seek out those in our life who manifest Christ’s presence through humility. Let us approach them as we would approach the Christ child. Sit with them, warm them, love them, and pray with them. Allow the love of Jesus Christ to move through each of you. Recognize Christ in them as they will undoubtedly recognize Christ in you. For one can find no greater Happiness than within His Sacred Heart. This is what God sought to do. Through humbling Himself to share in our humanity, He invites us to humble ourselves to share in His divinity – a divinity that presents itself in the lowliness of a baby whose little light “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Will we get down from our pridefulness to see Him in the little manger? Will we beg for forgiveness and seek to conform our lives to Christ? For at the end of times, when we go before God, the Divine Judge, we must give a reckoning of our pilgrimage. And He will ask: Did you stoop low enough to see me in the manger and keep me warm?
The first responders who witnessed the horrific accident that night were placed there not only to save the life of the man, but to give him a second chance at finding healing in Christ. Perhaps, one day, the man might turn his life around and possibly save another soul from the depths of sin and lead him to eternal life. In many instances, we will never know during our time on Earth whether our service towards those in our lives bore any merit. It is for this reason that we must strive to manifest the Good Samaritan’s virtues of humility and charity towards all those we encounter with unwavering constancy and fidelity. Let us make it our prayer, then, to trust in the Divine Providence of Jesus Christ as we humbly accept His invitation to become more like the Good Samaritan and to “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). Amen.
