Concerning the person in need because of misery, two things are introduced by the Evangelist: the first is the removal of good, the second is the infliction of evil.
53. (Vers. 30.). First, therefore, as regards the removal of good, he says: A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who also stripped him. Perhaps they did this because he was alone, which is indicated in the fact that it says: A certain man, so that that saying of Ecclesiastes 4 may appear true: "Woe to him who is alone! For when he falls, he has no one to lift him up," but rather such a one has those who plunder him. Whence this man could say that word of Job 19: "He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head." "His troops came together and made their way against me." He fell among these robbers perhaps because of the desolation of the road, where robbers are accustomed to lurk, according to that saying of Jeremiah 3: "You sat in the ways, waiting for them like a robber in the wilderness."
54. Second, as regards the infliction of evil, he adds: And having inflicted wounds, they departed, leaving him half dead: as if to say that they wounded him even unto death, according to what is said of robbers in Proverbs 1: "Their feet run to evil and hasten to shed blood"; and in the Psalm: "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood." They did not merely beat him but also left him half dead, lest he betray them, as is said of Ishmael in Jeremiah 41, that "Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, he and the men who were with him, killed the men coming to Gedaliah near the middle of the cistern"; and this, lest they betray him, just as also here.
55. (Vers. 31.). It happened that a priest, etc. After the person in need because of a twofold misery, there follows here the person who despises because of hardness. Here a twofold person is introduced, namely a superior and an inferior in ecclesiastical dignity.
First, therefore, as regards the superior person, he says: It happened that a certain priest went down the same way, whose duty it was to teach and fulfill the law of God, according to that passage of Malachi 2: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth." They, moreover, were bound to be holy, according to that passage of Leviticus 10: "I will be sanctified in those who draw near to me, and in the sight of all the people I will be glorified." Hence it was especially the duty of priests to keep the law of God and above all with regard to mercy; but this one did not keep it, on account of hardness of heart.
Hence he adds: And seeing him, he passed by, not heeding that passage of Deuteronomy 22: "If you see your brother's donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not despise it, but you shall lift it up with him." This one despised this brother on account of avarice. Already that passage of Jeremiah 6 was verified: "From the least even to the greatest, all are given to avarice, and from the prophet even to the priest, all practice deceit"; and likewise that passage of Isaiah 1: "Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves," etc.
56. (Verse 32). Second, as regards the inferior person, he adds: Likewise also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by: and this one was not heeding that passage of Ecclesiasticus 7: "Do not fail those who weep in consolation, and walk with those who mourn: do not be reluctant to visit the sick." He was reluctant, because, although he was near the place and saw him, he was unwilling to visit him. This one was not like that Tobit, in chapter 4, teaching his son: "Do not turn your face away from any poor person." But this one turned his eyes away from a poor man, naked, wounded, and of his own people. And this was more reprehensible in priests and Levites than in other persons: on account of which it is said in Hosea 6: "I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings"; whence this lawyer is said to have spoken, in Mark 12: "To love one's neighbor as oneself is greater than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
57. (Verse 33). But a certain Samaritan, etc. Here in the third place is added the person who comes to aid out of clemency. Concerning whom a twofold effect of mercy is shown, namely the support of infirmity and the relief of destitution.
First, therefore, as regards the mercy that supports infirmity, he says: But a certain Samaritan, making his journey, came near him and, with the eye of his benevolence and the work of the greatest piety, seeing him, was moved with compassion, so that he could say that passage of Job 30: "I wept once for him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor"; and again in chapter 31: "From my infancy compassion grew up with me."
58. (Vers. 34.). And because true mercy appears in deed, therefore he adds: And drawing near, by effect, to whom he was already close by affection, calling back to unity, he bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, so that the oil might soothe the pain, and the wine might cleanse, and the binding might preserve. And this was the work of a good physician, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus thirty-eight: "In these things the healer shall mitigate pain, and the perfumer shall make sweet ointments and shall prepare salves of health"; Proverbs twenty-one: "A desirable treasure and oil are in the dwelling of the just."
And because he needed not only medicine, but also transport and lodging and food, therefore he adds: And setting him upon his own beast, as regards transport, he brought him to an inn, as regards lodging, and took care of him, as regards food. And thus he fulfilled that passage of Isaiah fifty-eight: "Break your bread for the hungry and bring the needy and the wandering into your house," etc.
59. (Vers. 35.). Secondly, as regards mercy relieving destitution, he adds: And the next day he brought out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. He brought out a small sum of money, because perhaps he had but little, according to that passage of Tobit four: "As you are able, be merciful. If you have much, give abundantly; but if you have little, strive to share even that little willingly."
And because, although the money was small, the will to help was great, therefore he adds: And he said: Take care of him, and whatever you spend over and above, I, when I return, will repay you. From which it appears that his mercy was complete, not like that of those of whom it is said in Hosea six: "Your mercy is like a morning cloud and like the dew that passes away early." But of this man could truly be said that word of the Psalm: "All day long he shows mercy and lends, and his seed shall be in blessing," and truly, because, according to what is said in Proverbs nineteen, "he who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him his recompense."
60. (Vers. 36. 37.). Which of these three seems etc. Here in the fourth place is subjoined the doctrine following from the parable, and this with respect to two things: first, as regards the instruction of the intellect, and second, as regards the exhortation of the affections.
First, therefore, as regards the instruction of the intellect, it is said: Which of these three seems to you to have been neighbor to him who fell among robbers? He asks this of him so that from his mouth He might draw out the true judgment — which He also did.
Whence there follows: But he said: He who showed mercy to him. But those two were of the same nation, while this one was a foreigner: therefore the name neighbor is extended not only to kinsmen, but also to strangers. Whence Bede: "According to the letter it is clear that the foreigner was nearer to the man of Jerusalem, to whom he showed mercy, than the priest and the Levite of the same nation." It is also clear that nearness is measured more by natural love and compassion than by carnal kinship. Whence Ambrose: "Kinship does not make one a neighbor, but mercy, which mercy is according to nature. For nothing is so according to nature as to help a fellow sharer in nature." It is also clear from this that "by the name neighbor is understood everyone who is in need of mercy, or who can show mercy," and through this, "every person." And thus the understanding of the lawyer was illuminated by a wonderful leading by the hand. For if the Lord had said this by an absolute response, that man would by no means have believed it. Therefore the Lord most sagaciously drew out the truth from his own mouth and formed him in the truth more by the mode of questioning than by the mode of pronouncing judgment. In this he gives a model of how the proud ought to be answered.
61. Second, with respect to the exhortation of the affections, there is added: And Jesus said to him: Go and do thou likewise, so that you may show mercy to every person, if you wish to be truly merciful, because, Sirach eighteen, "the mercy of God is upon all flesh," that is, mercy which proceeds from God. For the mercy of God extends to all: whence above, chapter six: "You shall be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be therefore merciful, even as your heavenly Father is merciful."
True mercy, moreover, is not only in the affection, but also in the effect: therefore he says: And do thou likewise. Whence Galatians six: "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we shall reap, if we do not give up. Therefore, while we have time, let us work good toward all." And in this the law of God is fulfilled, when the neighbor, whoever is in need, is supported not only by word and spirit, but also by deed, according to that passage in Galatians six: "Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ," which consists in the love of neighbor: and "he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law," Romans thirteen. — Thus therefore the doctrine drawn out from the parable according to the literal sense is clear.
62. Another interpretation can also be drawn according to the spiritual sense, so that the person in need is understood on account of misery as the human race, which in Adam's sinning descended from Jerusalem to Jericho, that is, from paradise into the world, and fell among thieves, that is, into the power of demons, who stripped him of gratuitous gifts and wounded him in his natural endowments. And they left him half-dead, because, with the likeness withdrawn, only the image remained: so that truly that word of the Psalm may be said: "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand: he was compared to senseless beasts," etc.; and again: "Surely man passes as an image." Yet that image is stripped on account of the turning away and wounded on account of the turning toward, according to that word of Jeremiah 2: "My people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns." Therefore he is stripped and wounded, according to that word of Lamentations, last chapter: "The crown of our head has fallen: woe to us, because we have sinned! Therefore our heart has become sorrowful, therefore our eyes have been darkened."
63. The person moreover passing by with hardness was legal justice, which bestowed neither mercy nor medicine. This was well signified in Exodus 17, where it is said that "the hands of Moses were heavy"; whence in the Gloss of Bede: "The priest announces the law of God: indeed the Law descended into the world through Moses and conferred no healing upon man. The Levite descended, who showed the type of the Prophets, but he too heals no one, because the Law reproves sins but passes by, because it does not bestow pardon." And that was well designated in 4 Kings 4 by the staff of Elisha, which he sent to raise the boy, "and yet there was neither voice nor sense"; whence it was rather a staff for chastising than for healing. Whence it is said in Hebrews 10: "Anyone who violates the law of Moses dies without any mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses."
64. The person moreover coming to aid out of mercy is rightly understood as Christ the Lord, because Samaritan is interpreted as "guardian"; and he himself is the one of whom it is said in the Psalm: "Unless the Lord guard the city," etc.; and in Isaiah 21: "Guardian, what of the night?" because "behold, he who guards Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."
He came alongside the wounded man, because "he was made in the likeness of men and found in appearance as a man," Philippians 2. He came, I say, "in the likeness of sinful flesh," as is said in Romans 8.
And coming, he does three things for the wounded man: he applied a remedy, and this through the grace of the Sacraments, in which anointings and unctions are performed that heal the wounds of sins, which was not done before the coming of the Savior, according to that passage of Isaiah 1: "Wound and bruise and swelling sore are not bound up, nor treated with medicine, nor soothed with oil." But this was done after the coming of Christ: whence 1 Peter 2: "Who himself bore our sins in his body upon the tree; by his bruise we have been healed."
He also provided a conveyance, and this through the grace of virtues and gifts, by which we are carried to the inn of the Church, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Blessed is the man whose help is from you; he has disposed ascents in his heart, in the valley of tears"; and afterwards: "For the lawgiver shall give a blessing; they shall go from virtue to virtue." And this indeed takes place in the inn of the Church: whence it is added: "I have chosen to be abject in the house of God," etc.; and afterwards: "Because God loves mercy and truth, the Lord will give grace and glory."
He applied nourishment, which is done through the teaching of the two testaments, which is understood in the offering of the two denarii that he gave to the innkeeper, that is, to the prelate, whose task it is to minister the teaching of Christ and by expounding to spend beyond what is owed. Whence Sirach 45: "The Lord gave Moses a heart for precepts and the law of life and discipline, to teach Jacob his covenant and his judgments to Israel." To these the Lord will repay, when he returns on the day of judgment, all that was spent beyond what was owed; for, as is said in Daniel 12, "those who instruct many unto justice shall shine as stars for perpetual eternities"; Matthew 25: "Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things," etc.