The Shock of Compassion!

Monday, October 5, 2026

Gal 1:6-12; Lk 10: 25-37

Today’s Gospel invites us to imitate the Samaritan’s mercy. 

In the famous parable of The Good Samaritan, Jesus places the mercy of the Samaritan, a Gentile, against the indifference of the priest and the Levite, the religious people, who knew the law of God. Jesus constructs the story in such a way that those who knew God’s law ‘passed by on the other side’ without helping the wounded man, while a Gentile Samaritan approached the wounded man and treated him with mercy. 

Jesus now wants us to ask, what made the priest and the Levite go on the opposite side while the Samaritan moved closer to the wounded man? We are not clear why the priest and the Levite went by the opposite side. The Gospel does not tell us explicitly. Here is where Jesus helps us discover that the opposite side need not be a physical space but a place in one’s heart. But Jesus shows what drew the Samaritan closer to the wounded man: it was his mercy.

With the priest and the Levite, we find a deep disconnect between what they saw and what they did. Whereas in the Samaritan, we find a profound connection between what he saw and what he did. The Good Samaritan allows what he witnessed to touch him. It is that compassion and mercy that helped him approach the wounded man, bind his wounds, pour oil and wine, place him on his own animal, bring him to an inn, take care of him, and spend his own money on the stranger. 

Jesus lets the Good Samaritan teach us what true compassion or mercy looks like. If we have compassion or mercy, it will take us towards the wounded. It will not hesitate to cross boundaries. This is why the Samaritan allowed mercy to be greater than the boundary between him and the wounded man. Shockingly or surprisingly, the religious outsider shows that neighborliness begins when we move closer to the wounded.

This is what Jesus now turns into a lesson for us. His command is direct, plain, and simple: ‘Go and do likewise.’ By this, Jesus helps us understand that faith is not a mere intellectual exercise but a practical engagement. When we allow compassion to touch our hearts, distance becomes proximity and strangers become neighbors. The Good Samaritan masters this spiritual trick. 

Let us pray that we may follow the Good Samaritan’s good example.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar