(Lk 10:25-37): living on the surface?

-------------------------->>image owned by Simon_K of Flickr...

...A teacher of the Law came and began putting Jesus to the test. And he said, "Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?". Jesus replied, "What is written in the Scripture? How do you understand it?". The man answered, "It is written: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself". Jesus replied, "What a good answer! Do this and you shall live".

The man wanted to keep up appearances, so he replied, "Who is my neighbor?". Jesus then said, "There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite saw the man and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, too, was going that way, and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion. He went over to him and treated his wounds with oil and wine and wrapped them with bandages. Then he put him on his own mount and brought him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he had to set off, but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper and told him: "Take care of him and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I come back". Jesus then asked, "Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?". The teacher of the Law answered, "The one who had mercy on him". And Jesus said, "Go then and do the same"...

Pondering on today's Gospel....
Today, a Teacher of the Law asks Jesus the kind of question we may have asked ourselves more than once, in our life: "Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?" (Lk 10:25). He wanted to put Jesus to the test. The Master, though, wisely answers what is written in the Scriptures, that is, to love the Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself (Lk 10:27). The key is to love. If we seek the eternal life, we know that "faith and hope will go away, but love will remain forever" (1Cor 13:13).
Any life project, any spirituality, which has no love in its center furthers us away from the actual meaning of our existence.

Most Catholic adults and, indeed, most of their children know the story of the Good Samaritan, which is today's gospel. And most of us would have a ready answer to the question, "According to Jesus, who is my neighbor?" Our answer would be simple and clear: "Everybody," and our answer would be right. But that doesn't close the matter. There's a further question: Is our right answer surface knowledge or dynamic knowledge? Is it strictly correct information, or does it actually affect and determine the way we live?

Jesus' proposal is clear: "Go then and do the same". It is not a theoretical conclusion of the debate but an invitation to live the reality of love, which is not only a vaporous feeling but a behaviour that defeats social denominations and stems from a person's heart. St. John of the Cross reminds us "at the twilight of your life you will only be examined of love".

That's the crucial question for us all, and it can be phrased in another way: How Christian are we, in fact? Does Jesus' teaching determine our priorities, our lifestyle, the way we do business, the way we treat one another, our willingness to forgive, our readiness to help?

So how Christian are you really?