Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
The most challenging part of life is not necessarily how we can be a Good Samaritan, but rather to how we can receive love from a Good Samaritan. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the Jewish man has been stripped, beaten, and left half-dead. After his fellow Jews ignored him, he had no choice but to accept the help from the Good Samaritan. Nevertheless, his pride could be wounded as well. The Jews had viewed the Samaritan as the compromisers based on the accusation that the Samaritan had merged Judaism with paganism. It might not be easy for the wounded Jews to accept love from a Samaritan, whom they despised.
In the story of Jonah, we know that God sent a large fish that swallowed him after an angry mob threw him into the sea. Let us imagine a different scenario, instead of sending a large fish, what if God would have decided to change the minds and hearts of the angry mob. The angry mob could have rescued Jonah from the sea. Do we think Jonah will easily accept the help from the mob who wanted to kill him earlier?
In this life, we might meet many unworthy Samaritans, are we ready to receive love from them?