James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the editor-at-large of America Magazine, fact-checked Vice President J.D. Vance's interpretation of the story of the Good Samaritan and what Jesus meant by "love thy neighbor" after Vance evoked the Great Commandment during a Fox News interview.
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Vance appeared on Fox News personality Sean Hannity's program to explain why "America First" is actually a brand of positive nationalism, suggesting those on the left have spent too much time caring about others around the world instead of those at home.
He said:
"There's this old school, very Christian concept that you love your family, then you love your neighbor, then you love your community, then you love you fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world."
"A lot of the far-left has completely inverted that. They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders. That is no way to run a society. And I think the profound difference that Donald Trump brings to the leadership of this country is the simple concept, of "America First.""
"It doesn't mean you hate anybody else, it means you have leadership -- and President Trump has been very clear about this -- that put the interests of American citizens first."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Vance's remarks soon caught the attention of Martin, who took the opportunity to fact-check Vance by employing a Biblical story many of us are familiar with.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan tells the story of a traveler, presumed to be Jewish, who is attacked by robbers, stripped of his clothing, beaten, and left for dead along the road.
A Jewish priest and later a Levite pass by but choose to avoid the injured man. Finally, a Samaritan—a member of a group traditionally at odds with the Jewish people—comes across the traveler. Instead of ignoring him, the Samaritan shows compassion, tending to his wounds and ensuring he receives care.
On this note, Martin said:
"Actually no. This misses the point of Jesus's Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10: 25-37). After Jesus tells a lawyer that you should "love your neighbor as yourself," the lawyer asks him, "And who is my neighbor?"
"In response, Jesus tells the story of a Jewish man who has been beaten by robbers and is lying by the side of the road. The man is helped not by those closest to him (a "priest" and a "Levite"), but rather by a Samaritan. At the time, Jews and Samaritans would have considered one another enemies."
"So Jesus's fundamental message is that *everyone* is your neighbor, and that it is not about helping just your family or those closest to you. It's specifically about helping those who seem different, foreign, other. They are all our "neighbors.""
"But Jesus's deeper point can only be understood from the point of view of the beaten man: our ultimate salvation depends, as it did for that man, upon those whom we often consider to be the "stranger.""
He added:
"NB: Jesus was often critical of those who would put family first. When Jesus' own family came from Nazareth to Capernaum to "seize" him, he was told that his mother and brothers were waiting outside a house in which he was preaching."
"Jesus said, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”... Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Mt 12:46-50). For Jesus, ties to the Father were more important than family ties. And responsibilities to family took second place to the demands of discipleship."
You can see what he said below.
Many appreciated Martin's remarks—noting how far Vance has strayed from the lessons of this story.
Martin has previously called out Republicans for appropriating, mischaracterizing, and perverting the Christian faith.
For instance, a couple of years ago, he came to the defense of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg after the Catholic League claimed in a tweet that Buttigieg's marriage to his husband—educator, author and activist Chasten Buttigieg—is a "legal fiction."
The organization linked to an article in which it criticized Buttigieg for defending his marriage in a recent interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, who suggested Buttigieg should not have taken his husband as part of an official delegation to the Netherlands for the Fifth Invictus Games.
Bill Donohue, the Catholic League's president, said Buttigieg doesn't actually "have a husband" because he "has been disqualified by nature."
In response, Martin said that regardless of whether people agree or disagree with same-sex marriage, Buttigieg "is married in the eyes of the state, and his church, as much as anyone else is." He criticized Donohue further, saying that "to claim otherwise is to ignore reality."
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