REFLECTIONS TODAY

There had always been “bad blood” between the Samaritans and the Jews, fed by misunderstanding, mistrust, opprobrium, and violence. In 722 BC, when Sargon of Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and Samaria, its capital, he settled outsiders in the land. These intermarried with the Israelite remnants. The people worshipped the God of Israel, but elements of foreign worship were also brought in.
The Judeans (Jews) considered them “impure” because of interracial marriage and their cult. The Samaritans, in turn, tried to block the rebuilding of the temple and built their own in Mt. Gerizim. This enmity continued to the time of Jesus and even of early Christianity.
The Gospel reading narrates that the inhabitants of a Samaritan village would not allow Jesus and his band to pass through their place because the destination of Jesus’ journey is Jerusalem. James and John, for whom Samaritan is a term of opprobrium, propose that they call down fire from heaven to consume the villagers (they are not called “sons of thunder” for nothing), but Jesus rejects retaliation.
Luke, who has sympathy for the Gentiles and outsiders, even has the Samaritans figure positively and prominently. He tells of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (10:29-37). It is the Samaritan, rather than the Jewish priest and Levite, who proves neighbor to the robber’s victim.
Gospel • Luke 9:51-56
When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.