Adam And The Samaritan

Homo quidam ex Hierusalem descendebat in Hiericho, et incidit in latrones... Si altius consideretur, admiranda signat mysteria. Hiericho enim figura istius mundi est, in quam de paradiso, hoc est, de Hierusalem illa coelesti eiectus Adam praevaricationis prolapsione descendit, hoc est, de vitalibus ad infirma demigrans: cui non loci, sed morum mutatio naturae suae fecit exsilium. Longe enim mutatus ab illo Adam, qui inoffensa beatitudine fruebatur, ubi in saecularia peccata defluxit, incidit in latrones: in quos non incidisset, nisi his mandati coelestis devius se fecisset obnoxium. Qui sunt isti latrones, nisi angeli noctis atque tenebrarum, qui se nonnumquam transfigurant in angelos lucis, sed perseverare non possunt? Hi ante dispoliant quae accepimus indumenta gratiae spiritalis, et sic vulnera inferre consuerunt; nam si intemerata quae sumpsimus indumenta servemus, plagas latronum sentire non possumus. Cave ergo ne ante nuderis, sicut Adam ante nudatus est, mandati coelestis custodia destitutus, et exutus fidei vestimento, et sic lethale vulnus accepit: in quo omne genus occidisset humanum, nisi Samaritanus ille descendens, vulnera eius acerba curasset. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Liber VII Source: Migne PL 15.1718a-b

A man came down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves... 1 If this is considered in a more higher sense it shall indicate admirable mysteries. Jericho is a figure of this world, into which Adam fell from paradise, that is, from that heavenly Jerusalem, 2 having been cast out for the fault of this transgression, that is, from might he passed into weakness, and his exile was not a matter of place but made by the change of his nature. He was greatly changed from that Adam who prospered in the innocence of blessedness, when he tumbled into worldly things by sin, and fell among thieves, to whom he did not come but by his own flouting of the heavenly command. Who are those thieves but angels of night and darkness who can even change themselves into angels of light 3 but are not able to persist in it? They who are accustomed to inflict their wounds by first despoiling us of the heavenly armor we have received, for if we preserve the armour intact we have taken up, we will not be able to feel the blows of the thieves. 4 Therefore take care not to be naked, as Adam was when he stripped himself of the guard of the heavenly commandment and was stripped of the garment of faith, and because of which he received a lethal wound, in which every man would have perished, unless that Samaritan coming down had cured the bitter wounds. Saint Ambrose, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 7 1 Lk 10.25 2 Heb 12.22, Galat 4.26 3 2 Cor 11.14 4 Ephes 6.11-18