Have you read 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Harold Pinter's Acceptance Speech?

Maggie Helass's review of Russell Daye's Political Forgiveness - Lessons from South Africa (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, ISBN 1-57075-490-X) in the Winter 2004 issue of Common Theology, as well as being an excellent summary, includes among its references an especially helpful one to Donald W. Shriver, Jr's An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995). In the Winter 2005 issue, her account of the lecture Archbishop Rowan Williams delivered in Lambeth Palace on 15 June merits close attention.

JOSEPH S. ELLUL

Hagar Qim House, 49 St. Catherine Street, ZURRIEQ ZRQ 1083, Malta

THE GOOD SAMARITAN - JESUS CHRIST'S REAL LESSON

"When Jesus narrated the parable of the Good Samaritan to the Jews and the people around Jesus, Jesus made a summary of all His Teaching in His earthly mission: Love of one's neighbour.

To understand well the meaning of this parable one has to know well the conditions in which the Jews and the Samaritans lived in those days. When one examines the words of the Samaritan woman who went for water to Jacob's well, one may understand the feelings expressed by that woman in her sentence to Christ when He asked her to give him some water. "You, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, to give you water!" She couldn't believe her ears. There was such hatred existing between the two peoples that, when Jesus asked the Jew who was 'neighbour', the Jew, instead of replying with just the word "Samaritan", answered with a whole sentence without mentioning the word "Samaritan", saying: "He who showed mercy to him".

Now we can understand well the gist of the parable. There are five important points in this parable, which are:

• 1. For our greatest enemy (As explained above),
• 2. We should even risk our lives (The place was so dangerous that both Jewish clerics, the priest and the levite, were very afraid to stop and give help, and hurried away on the other side of the road past their fellow countryman, the wounded Jew),
• 3. We should help him materially in his physical needs (The Samaritan dressed his wounds with wine, as disinfectant, and with oil, as a soothing curative medium),
• 4. We should make sacrifices for our neighbour (The Samaritan put the wounded man on his donkey, while he travelled on foot. That is an excellent example of sacrifice; giving your commodity to someone else in need),
• 5. We should help our neighbour even financially if he is in need (The Samaritan helped the Jew with money. He paid the hotelier two deniers to pay for his sojourn and cure, and promised to pay in full any other expenses that might result from attending to the wounded man's needs. That is perfect financial help).

This parable summarises all the teachings of Christ's mission.

If, instead of a lot of bombasic words, these five points are fully expounded and drummed into the heads of people, there would be much more understanding of what is meant by 'loving our neighbour'. "

Joseph S. Ellul, Believer I+N Jesus Christ, Malta, 26 July 2000    

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