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REASON AND ACTING REASONABLY"GO AND DO LIKEWISE"1. Our scripture passage will be the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25-37, the story of the Good Samaritan. Let’s dive right into the living water of Luke’s gospel:
DANGEROUS TRIP2. The gospel story says “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho”. This is literally true. If you’ve ever looked at a topographical map of Israel, you can see that the village of Jericho is situated 10 miles north of the Dead Sea near a crossing of the Jordan River. On the one hand, the city of Jerusalem stands at an elevation of 2,460 feet above sea level. The Dead Sea, on the other hand, lies 1,292 feet below sea level. So to go down to Jericho means going down 3,752 feet, over two-thirds of a mile! Going to Jericho from Jerusalem is like going down a steep mountain. 3. As Jesus’ parable makes clear, it could be a dangerous trip. The mountain terrain was a favorite hiding place for bandits and fugitives.The man going to Jericho discovered for himself just how dangerous it was. He was attacked by bandits. They beat him and stripped him and left him for dead. Brazen and invincible, they just dumped him on the side of the road. They didn’t care who saw the body. There would always be travelers on the Jericho Road, and plenty of victims. WIDER SENSE4. Jesus didn’t identify the beaten man in his parable, but it could’ve been almost anyone. The man could’ve been a foreigner, a Samaritan from north of Jerusalem, or a Jew from Judea. It didn’t matter. Jesus left the identity of the beaten man wide open, so that we’d realize that he’s us. Every day, the news is full of stories about men dying on the roadside. Some are rescued. Others are not. It could be you on the roadside in desperate circumstances. How many persons have gone from enjoying a normal life to struggling as a victim of assault in a split second? 5. In the wider sense, the man beaten and left on the roadside is an icon for all human beings who’ve fallen by sin. Sin will hurt you badly in two ways. First, you’re born with it. The sin of Adam and Eve, the sin of pride and presumption, has tainted every human being in history except the Blessed Virgin Mary who received the grace of baptism at the moment of her conception (cf. Immaculate Conception). Through Adam and Eve, we have all been struck down by sin on life’s road. SATAN WANTS YOUR SOUL6. Second, you’re hurt badly by the sin you commit after you’re baptized. Every time you slam God or your neighbor in sin, you are, in effect, saying to Satan, I want to be your victim. Satan is more than happy to oblige. He wants to beat you up, he wants to make you miserable, he wants to take you down. He did it at your birth, but the Church rescued you with the Sacrament of Baptism. He wants to take you down now by your very own cooperation. 7. So when you read the parable of the Good Samaritan, the man in desperate circumstances is none other than the person you know as yourself. Few things are worse than being physically attacked and beaten within an inch of your life—except for perhaps death or permanent disability—but sin is one of them. Sin is not called “grave” for nothing, because that’s exactly where Satan and all his little fork-tailed friends want to take you. They want your body six feet under in the dirt as fast as they can get it there, and just as fast, they want your immortal soul in hell’s eternal grave. ORDER THROUGH REASON8. Therefore, when you read the Good Samaritan parable, think about it long and hard. Put yourself into it. Try to make it work for you. Try to understand what Jesus was talking about. It’s a matter of life and death. Therefore, if you think that this parable of Jesus has nothing to do with you, your not thinking right. You’re not using the human reason that God gave you to use. 9. Why am I making an appeal to human reason? Why is it important to us? Reason is a faculty given by God to all human beings. Reason is the inborn and cultivated human ability to grasp, to utilize and to benefit from the universe of ideas. Our world is a world of material things as well as a world of ideas. A human being reasons with his intellect—he thinks, he connects ideas, he forms ideas, he develops ideas, and he applies ideas. Properly used, reason seeks to order the world of ideas. This is why scripture says,
RIGHT REASON10. Adam named and organized all living creatures. By applying his reason to material things, human experience and the world of ideas, Adam determined that “there was not found a helper fit for him” [Gen 2:20]:
11. The story of Adam is perfectly illustrates the use of right reason. The story also illustrates one aspect of how human beings are made in God’s image and likeness. [cf. Gen 1:26] We can see how through ideas, a human being governs the material world and seeks to understand his experiences and find meaning in them. SEEKING THE GOOD12. Human free will aided by reason leads all men and women of good will to seek the good. Pope John Paul II, of blessed memory, tells us what happens next:
13. What do I mean by seeking the good? Well, it means that we desire a good life. We want to be good persons. We want others to be good to us. We want our lives to be purposeful and meaningful. We want to be fulfilled in our humanity. We want to know that true goodness will never end. We want to leave the world a better place than we found it. EXCHANGING GIFTS14. All these things are commendable, to be sure, but seeking the good ultimately means seeking God. Seeking the good means seeking God who is goodness itself—and having found God, entering into profound communion with him. According to our Lord Jesus Christ, we’ve only to ask, to pray sincerely for this:
15. That God enters into profound communion with human creatures means giving and receiving important gifts. You love God as God loves you. God sanctifies you, he blesses you, he gives you grace. You give God your obedience, your humble service and steadfast loyalty. ACTING REASONABLY16. I cannot overemphasize the value of a very special gift, however, that God has given to the world. God has revealed himself to humankind. He has given us divine knowledge of himself—who he is, what he’s like, and what he’s done for us. God has revealed to us the divine knowledge of his love, his marvelous plan of salvation, and how to live and moral and ethical life. 17. God, who is goodness itself, reveals to us how to be humane human beings. Reason doesn’t exist as an end in itself. God informs our human reason with his divine revelation, so that as human creatures made in his image and likeness, men and women everywhere may learn to act reasonably. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ said:
FAITH AIDS REASON18. Christian life is the living-out of the union of faith and reason. In a sense, this is similar to the bond of matrimony between a man and woman. As Jesus described it, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” [Mt 19:6] Faith and reason are indissoluble like the covenant of matrimony. No human power can break such a bond. 19. Faith, aided by reason, informed by divine revelation, leads men and women of goodwill everywhere to act reasonably in the sight of God and in the sight of man. But we should avoid the common mistake of thinking that acting reasonably is unpredictable and largely dependent on circumstances. Acting reasonably means acting reasonably all the time. We put on the “mind of Christ” [1Cor 2:16] which is absolute, unchanging and eternal. VIRTUE OF PRUDENCE20. Therefore, the truth we receive from God—whether gleaned from the natural world or divinely revealed—is perfect as God is perfect. God’s truth is always and everywhere true. This reality leads to the inescapable conclusion: A human being always should act on such truth, therefore, and allways in a consistent and habitual way. And so the habits of goodness are called virtues. A virtue is a mode of spiritual excellence that habitually orients one to the good. 21. Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues, the others being justice, temperance and fortitude. The word “cardinal” comes from the Latin cardo meaning “hinge”. The well-being of our lives literally hinges on the ways of spiritual excellence. Prudence refers to the correct knowledge concerning the things to be done. By “correct knowledge”, we mean to say that what we know must be in harmony with the natural world, the reality of human nature, and divinely revealed truth. To act in accord with prudence—the correct knowledge concerning the things to be done—is to act reasonably. “So whatever you wish that men would do to you (says the Lord), do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” [Mt 7:12] RITUALLY PURE22. Now this brings us back to Jesus’ story of the good samaritan. Two men passed by the person who was beaten so terribly and left for dead on the road to Jericho. One was a priest, the other a Levite. Each looked at the stricken man, and moved to the other side of the road to get as far away from him as he could. Each had reason to do what he did, but did he act reasonably? Priests and Levites were devoted to the Law of Moses. Very highly educated, their whole lives were given in service at the great temple in Jerusalem and to fulfilling even the smallest interpretation of the Law. 23. Everyone in society expected priests and Levites to offer the best possible example of what it meant to be an observant Jew in all aspects of religion. They were very strict and self-consciously protected their status before the Law. The injured, naked man was ritually unclean; the attack by robbers brought shame on him. If the priest and the Levite had touched the injured man, or compromised their public sanctity before the Law in the least way, they too would be rendered unclean before the Law. Each would be unable to fulfill his pressing religious duties, publicly or privately, possibly causing great hardship for devout people who depended on them. So, in passing by the hapless victim on the other side of the road, both priest and Levite fulfilled the Law of Moses by remaining ritually pure. COMPROMISED WORSHIP24. Now, let’s address the question: Each had reason to do what he did, but did he act reasonably? Not according to the Lord Jesus. For you see, there was a third man on the road to Jericho. But he wasn’t a priest or Levite; he was a Samaritan. And all Samaritans were considered unclean in the eyes of observant Jews and deserving of contempt. Our Lord Jesus had something to say about Samaritans whose worship of God had been compromised over the centuries. To the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said:
25. Now both the Samaritan and the victim of the roadside attack were ritually unclean. Ironically, by being outside the Law, the Samaritan was free to give life-saving help. The injured man was free to receive life-saving help. Here’s how it happened:
"WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?"26. Jesus was prompted to tell this parable precisely because a man highly educated in the Law of Moses had asked him, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” [Lk 10:25]—to which Jesus had affirmed loving God and neighbor wholeheartedly as the great commandment. [cf. Mt 22:35-40] But the religious lawyer, wanting to test Jesus, persisted: “And who is my neighbor?” [Lk 10:29] To people in the crowd, it appeared that the expert sincerely was trying to deepen his faith by the right use of his human reason. 27. Nevertheless, his question was deeply flawed. It stands to reason that if a question is faulty, the answer is bound to be faulty as well. Jesus knew the man’s question was clever but wrong. Here’s why. The very fact that you’re asking Jesus And who is my neighbor? means that you are also asking Jesus: And who is NOT my neighbor? For Jesus’ part, the idea of “neighbor” as the person left over after you’ve identified all your enemies was repugnant. The lawyer’s question was an example of not using human reason properly in the service of faith. GRACE AND SALVATION28. Thus Jesus asked the lawyer pointedly, “Which of these three (priest, Levite, Samaritan), do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” [Lk 10:37] To his credit, the expert in the Mosaic Law permitted Jesus to teach him: The “Law of Grace” was superior to the Law of Moses. Why? Because grace is oriented to attaining a glorious freedom in the realm of spiritual things, whereas the Law of Moses focused on avoiding obstacles to faith in the material world. 29. The Law of Grace reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom of God to anyone who asks, to anyone who seeks, to anyone who knocks on its door. The Law of Moses, without question, named all persons unclean born outside the twelve tribes of Israel. When the angel blows the trumpet, and human time is no more, and the history of mankind is finished, it will be said that the Law of Moses never saved anyone from death; to contrary, its goodness was compromised by its power to point out a person’s grave sin and mark him for death. The Law of Grace, however, in the person of Jesus Christ, is bringing men and women of good will to salvation at this very hour and the hope of eternal life in the glorious presence of our merciful and loving God. REASON SERVES FAITH30. So who among the priest, Levite and Samaritan “proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer answered rightly: "The one who showed mercy on him." [Lk 10:37] In other words, the good Samaritan reasoned and acted reasonably by showing mercy on the desperately injured man. He felt compassion, and he was moved to act compassionately. The priest and Levite used their reason, but they failed to act reasonably. Thus, they abandoned the victim to his death. But the Samaritan rescued him in time to save his life. 31. What have we learned here? We’ve learned that without faith, human reason remains immature and selfish, ultimately oriented to crudeness and cruelty in the society of man. We may say that human reason is like the flesh in need of a soul. The soul of human reason is faith in Jesus Christ and faith in his gospel. Faith governs human reason. Faith wisely leads reason to seek God as the source of all goodness, and one’s neighbor as the opportunity of sharing God’s goodness. Make no mistake—human reason exists to serve human faith, not the reverse. Reason in service of faith yields a harvest of divine mercy. GOD'S IDEAS32. Faith impels us to seek God, and having found him, to love him. But it is impossible to love a person if you don’t know him. To love God means that you must know God. Hence, faith aided by reason leads one to salvation in Christ, the very incarnation of God’s divine truth. To seek God’s wisdom is acting reasonably. To defend God’s ideas is to defend God himself. Praise God that Jesus said more than Good answer! to the lawyer who replied, The one who showed mercy. Praise God that Jesus said, “Go and do likewise”. [Lk 10:37] Therefore, in all times and in all places, in all the ways of grace and divine mercy, you are to reason and act reasonably.
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