Who is my Neighbour?

This is an address by John Scoble to the St Mary's in-exile community on 19 July 2026. John explores the question "Who is my Neighbour?" by examining the Good Samaritan parable using imaginative prayer in the Ignation tradition.

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For those who prefer reading to watching, here is the text of my address:

All of us are familiar with Jesus’ statement about the greatest commandment that the first law is that you should love your God with all your heart, soul and mind. The second law is to love your neighbour as yourself. I’m not sure if the KISS principle, keep it simple stupid, was in vogue in Roman times, but there could not be a simpler guide to understanding Jesus’ teaching. This morning, I would like to help you to examine what it means to be a neighbour by using imaginative prayer in the Ignation tradition.

Let me start by giving you an example of imaginative prayer from personal experience.

Some years ago, I conducted a self-directed retreat at the Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre at Ormiston in Brisbane. During the retreat, I was sitting on a stone block at the bottom of the garden staring at the sculpture of our Lady, beside which were two water jugs. The scene represented the wedding feast at Cana. The inscription from Jn 2:5 read “do whatever he tells you”. I decided to place myself within the scene of the wedding feast and to take on the role of one of the servants instructed by Jesus to fill empty wine jars with water. As I imagined myself into the smells and sounds of this joyous occasion, I moved through various emotions from scepticism and disbelief to amazement and wonder. Upon reflection, I drew from the scene the lesson that if I did what Jesus was calling me to do in my own life, there was nothing that he could not achieve through me, even miraculous outcomes. I also concluded that it was important for me to discern what I was being called to do with my skills and experience. It was a significant moment in my spiritual journey and a testament to the power of Ignation imagination.

Let’s return to the theme of the readings. Who is our neighbour? In the first reading, the author uses the terms brother and sister in their broadest meaning and makes it clear that taking action by helping them is a requirement of abiding in God’s love. To quote: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” The author then reinforces this with this statement: “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action”. That reminds me of the statement attributed to St Francis of Assisi "Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words."

And so, with this call to action, let’s examine the Gospel story through imaginative prayer.

I’m now going to ask you to do some work. So please pay attention carefully. I want you to visualize the Good Samaritan parable as if you were making a movie. Pay attention to the details: sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings of the event. Lose yourself in the story; don’t worry if your imagination is running too wild. At some point, place yourself in the scene. Choose to be one of the five characters: the man, beaten and bloodied on the roadside, the priest, the Levite, the Samaritan or the innkeeper. When you have chosen a character, play the scene over in your imagination again. What do you see? What emotions stir within you? Do you experience any internal conflict? Sit with this for a while.

Pause for 60 seconds.

Now I’m going to create a little bit of chaos. Please turn to your neighbour in this community and tell them which character you chose and what your imagination did with that character. You will have about 1 minute each.

Pause for two minutes.

St Ignatius was convinced that God can speak to us as surely through our imagination as through our thoughts and memories. In the Ignatian tradition, contemplation is a very active way of praying that engages the mind and heart and stirs up thoughts and emotions.

Let’s examine the gospel characters in more detail.

At the time of Jesus, Jews and Samaritans were enemies. Think current day Jewish settlers and Palestinian farmers in the West Bank and you’ll get the picture.

The victim of this bashing is a man travelling down from Jerusalem to Jericho; it is a dangerous road; notorious for thieves. We don’t really know anything about him.

We are introduced to a priest who is travelling down the same road. He sees the man but passes by on the other side. He feels under no obligation to assist the man, because it is not at all clear that he is a neighbour towards whom he has obligations. Furthermore, it is possible that the man is dead and a priest was forbidden to pass within two metres of a corpse, under pain of being considered ritually unclean. To investigate would mean running this risk. He might have to return to Jerusalem to buy and sacrifice a heifer. We are not surprised that he avoids this risk and continues on his way. He can always claim to be scrupulously obeying God’s injunction.

Next comes a Levite. He, too, is on his way from Jerusalem having completed his cult obligations. These included pouring oil and wine on the offerings to prepare them for sacrifice. He sees the man. If the priest did nothing, why should he? Besides there is not much that he can do. However, he had oil and wine with him, and so he could have brought some ease and comfort to the man. We could infer that he considered it easier to pour these on a sacrifice than to care for a neighbour!

Anyone listening to Jesus would have expected the next character to be a Jewish layman, but here the story takes a sudden twist. He is a Samaritan. Travelling in Judaean territory, he is in more danger than either the priest or the Levite. He also has more reason not to act, since it is more likely that the man by the side of the road was a Jew, and so an enemy, rather than a ‘neighbour’. Next the Samaritan does what the priest could have and should have done, but failed to do. ‘He put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Then there’s the Inn-keeper; probably a Jew and a businessman. Does he take the man in willingly? Should he trust the Samaritan to return and compensate him for additional expenses? We don’t know.

The main lesson of this wonderful parable is captured in the letter of James (2:17) "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." However, by using your imagination, there are lots of hidden meanings and additional lessons that can be revealed. For example, if you imagine that the characters represent not individuals but nation states, the parable takes on new meaning. If the beaten man is Sudan torn apart by civil war, which nations would be the priest, Levite and Samaritan?

Let me briefly describe another example of imaginative prayer. In 1992, renowned Dutch Catholic priest and author, Henri Nouwen, wrote The Return of the Prodigal Son, after sitting for days staring at Rembrandt’s painting of this well-known parable. His book is an extraordinary example of imaginative prayer. He encourages readers to progressively imagine themselves in each role as the Prodigal Son, the Older Brother and the Father (Refer Lk 15:11-32). It may be helpful to use three separate sessions to do this. Which of the three characters do you identify with most? I commend this practice and this book to you.

Who then is your neighbour? How do you live your life in the spirit of Jesus’ second greatest commandment? Use your imagination and live into your own truth.