A Hard Saying

Extract

Surely of all the hard sayings in the Gospel, the words at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan are the hardest: ‘Go, and do thou in like manner’ —Vade, et tu fac similiter.

The story itself is plain and simple; none of the parables of Christ is more familiar. The very phrase,

‘a good Samaritan,’ has passed into the language. And yet, is there anything harder for the average man than the concluding injunction, ‘Go, and do thou in like manner’ ? Its very directness leaves no loophole for misunderstanding or evasion. There is no suggestion here of a counsel of perfection. It is just an instruction in neighbourly conduct, and an instruction exceedingly hard to obey.

The Samaritan adopts a complete stranger, whom he finds in distress, and recognizing the wounded man as a neighbour, promptly provides him with hospitality; thereby inventing a home for the homeless, and for one person at least solving the housing problem. ‘Go, and do thou likewise,’ declares the Saviour of the World!

The clergy had passed the injured man by. Perhaps they blamed ‘the system,’ social and economic, that allows wounded persons to lie homeless and destitute by the roadside. Possibly they blamed the authorities, to whom they paid rates and taxes, for not keeping better order and suppressing highway robbery. In any case, the injured man was quite unknown to them. Certainly he was not a regular attendant at church, or they would have identified him. It is impossible to suppose that a sidesman or a seat-holder found lying in the gutter would not be recognised and assisted.