THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN  (Luke 10:25-37)

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.  “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied.  “How do you read it?”
27 He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied.  “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers.  They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.  Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
35 The next day he took out two silver coins[1] and gave them to the innkeeper.  “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

AN INTERPLAY BETWEEN JESUS AND A LAWYER
This parable, unique to Luke, is one of Jesus’ most popular and memorable stories.  It highlights God’s concern for those despised and not accepted by “respectable” society.  The story reduced an abstract question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” to a simpler, more practical challenge: “Go and do likewise” (that is, show kindness or mercy to those in need).  The point of the parable is not simply, “Who is the neighbour?” but “Who acted as a neighbour?”

Jesus answered the lawyer’s test question with a question of his own, and in turn put the lawyer to the test.  Since the lawyer felt humiliated with this answer, he tried to regain the initiative by asking for an exact definition of “neighbour”.  So the story begins with the lawyer’s self-justifying question, “Who is my neighbour?” 

However, Jesus again turned the question around at the end of the parable: “Which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among thieves?”  The question was changed from, “Who is my neighbour?” to the challenge, “Am I a neighbour to others?”  The words “as yourself”, in the lawyer’s first reply, provided the means of assessing a person’s love of one’s neighbour.  Wherever people need us, Jesus taught, we should be neighbours and show kindness.

THE TWO PRIESTLY CHARACTERS ARE CONTRASTED WITH A LAYMAN
What makes the story so pointed is the contrast between the Jewish priest and the Levite, both pillars of Jewish religion, who avoided the half-dead victim, and the despised Samaritan who showed him compassion.  Jesus played on the deep-seated hostility that existed between the two groups (John 4:9).  He knew his listeners would find it unthinkable that a Samaritan would illustrate mercy.  Jesus could have told the story with a Samaritan victim and a Jewish helper, but the role reversal makes the point of the story with more force. 

Note that the lawyer could not bring himself to answer, “The Samaritan”, but “The one who had mercy on him.”  Prejudiced people find it difficult to think that their national enemies might be compassionate human beings.  Even Jesus’ own disciples were blinded by ethnic pride and on one occasion thought the Samaritans ought to be destroyed (Luke 9:51-56). 

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: IRRECONCILABLE HOSTILITY
Hatred between the Jews and Samaritans was fierce and traditional.  The Samaritans were descendants of pagan colonists whom the Assyrian kings planted in Palestine after the fall of the northern kingdom in 722 B.C.  They introduced pagan idols and intermarried with the Jews to create an ethnically mixed population.  Samaritans were despised by the Jews because of their mixed Gentile ancestry and their different worship, which centered at Mount Gerizim, and not Jerusalem (John 4:20-22).  Also when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, they met resistance from the Samaritans as they tried to re-build the temple and Jerusalem.

THERE ARE FIVE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY

(1)   The Unfriendly Lawyer

He was a self-righteous, expert teacher of the Law, and the traditional sayings that had gathered around it.  He “put a test question” (Barclay) to Jesus.  He asked a good question with a bad motive.  He wanted to make the issue complex and theological but Jesus made it simple and practical.  Jesus moved the question from a theological debate to practical action. 

The Jews believed that because they belonged to the chosen nation, they only had to be a neighbour to those of their own nation.  Thus the Jews interpreted the word “neighbour” in a very narrow manner by excluding Samaritans and Gentiles.  The lawyer’s correct answer did not mean that Jesus supported the legalistic idea held by many Pharisees that by keeping the law, as some kind of contract with God, a person could earn eternal life.  The maneuver “to justify himself” i.e. recover some of the “face” he had lost, not only failed; it had an opposite effect.

(2)   The Unfortunate Traveller

This road was called the “Way of Blood.”  It wound through a rugged, rocky landscape where thieves could easily hide and it was considered dangerous, even in a day when travel was normally risky.  Consequently, people usually travelled in caravans, seeking safety in numbers. 

(3) The Heartless Priest

He hurried past perhaps remembering that anyone who touched a dead person was unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11).  To touch the victim could mean losing his turn of duty in the Temple and he refused to risk that.  He put the claims of ceremony above those of mercy.  The Temple and its ritual meant more to him than the pain of a victim.

(4) The Heartless Levite

Like the priest, he also would take no risks to help any one else.  They both shrank from the trouble and expense of helping the victim.  Bandits were in the habit of using one of their number as a decoy to overpower an unsuspecting traveller.  His motto was also “Safety first.”  Most of us can think up excuses for the priest and the Levite as they ignored the victim.  Maybe we have used them ourselves!

(5) The Kind Samaritan

The listeners would expect that the villain of the story had arrived; instead it was the hero.  For the sake of contrast, Jesus takes a person who was as far as possible removed from being a neighbour to the victim.  If it had been a Jew approaching a Samaritan, he would have left him without help.  It was not a Jew helping a Samaritan, but a Samaritan helping a Jew who had been ignored by his fellow Jews!  He loved those who hated him.  He put himself to inconvenience and danger to help the helpless.  Perhaps he was a kind of commercial traveller who was a regular visitor to the inn for his credit was good with the innkeeper trusted him.  He alone was prepared to help because the love of God was in his heart. 

“Took pity” (verse 33, NIV) is the Greek “splachnizomai”, translated “heart-sorry” (Barclay) or “had compassion” (RSV) or “his heart went out to him” (The Message).  It means to “have sympathy with or for someone.”[2]  The word is often used of Christ’s reaction and inner feelings to individuals and crowds as Jesus was deeply moved in his heart at human suffering.

This compassionate response became sacrificial action.  The Samaritan made bandages; he used wine as a disinfectant and oil as an ointment.  He put the man on his donkey and paid the innkeeper at his own expense with a promise to pay more if necessary.  Genuine love is generous.

TWO PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS PERSONS LACKED LOVE

Priests served in the temple by offering sacrifices while Levites helped with the temple services.  Apparently the priest and the Levite had not learned the true meaning of the Law and sacrifice and the repetition of “passed by on the other side” emphasized their failure to help the helpless.    The priest was returning from his religious duty, “going down to Jericho” i.e., he was coming back from Jerusalem.  Perhaps the priest and Levite they were cowardly rather than callous.  However, the Samaritan did not think like this.  Nor did he say, “He is a Jew who would have had no contact with me; why should I help him?”

THE LAW OF LOVE

Like most parables, this story has one main point and the details that are part of the story should not be allegorized.  This parable teaches several principles about loving our neighbor:

(1)   The obligation to love God is also an obligation to love others.
(2)   Love means acting to meet the person’s need.  Perhaps the priest and the Levite felt some pity for the wounded man, but they did nothing.  Compassion to be genuine must result in action (James 1:27).
(3)   A lack of love is easy to justify, even though it is never right.
(4)   Compassion knows a higher law than the observance of ritual duties (Mark 2:25-26).
(5)   Our neighbour is anyone of any people-group, belief, or social background who is in need.

LOVE IS DEMONSTRATED BY ACTION

Jesus taught that love is demonstrated in action.  In this story it was costly involving cloth, wine, oil, transportation, money, and sacrifice of time.  Jesus referred to the original question, “What must I do?” by saying, “Go and do likewise.”  Also the “Go and do likewise” of verse 37 repeats the “Do this and you will live” of verse 28.  Both this man and the rich young ruler (chapter 18) needed to learn that those who reject the command to love, reveal that they have not recognized how much they need the love of God themselves.  The priest and the Levite in this story are like Simon the Pharisee in the parable of the two debtors (Luke 7:36-50).

A POPULAR ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION

According to one interpretation the story illustrates the kindness of God toward sinners.  We are like the distressed traveler and Satan, our enemy, has robbed us, and wounded us with sin.  The priest and the Levite represent the Law that is powerless to help us but Jesus had compassion on us, and gave his life for us.  Having shown us grace and mercy, God asks us to do the same for others and help all that are in distress.  To mankind the sinner, the love of God in Christ is the neighbour.  This view is evangelically correct.[3]

DIFFERING ATTITUDES TOWARD THE WOUNDED MAN

To the lawyer, he was a subject to discuss.
To the thieves, he was someone to exploit.
To the religious leaders, he was a problem to be avoided.
To the innkeeper, he was a customer to serve for a fee.
To the Samaritan, he was a human being to be loved.
To Jesus, all of them, and all of us were worth dying for.

THE PARABLE DOES NOT TEACH SALVATION BY GOOD WORKS

Salvation is by grace through faith.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  God in his grace saves those who believe in Christ.  We cannot earn credit with God by good deeds.

Only a total love for God can empower you to love rightly yourself and your neighbour.  Jesus portrays devotion as a matter of the heart and warns his disciples against allowing even genuine good works to distract from whole-hearted devotion to him.  Heart devotion is a matter of developing an intimate relationship with the living God (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28).

FOR REFLECTION

• Jesus’ challenge to “Go and do likewise” is a test for us as we consider the many ethnic divisions in the world today.  God is interested in mercy, not maintaining prejudice.  Who do we regard with condemnation rather than compassion?  Is it someone of another race or religion or beliefs?  The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.  With whom do you have no dealings?
• Jesus Christ came to remove ethnic hostility and racial barriers; he dared to minister to a Samaritan woman (John chapter 4).
• Do we see that others are fed, clothed, and housed as well as they can be?  Are we concerned about issues of social justice?  Loving others as ourselves means to be actively working to see that their needs are met.
• Our spiritual understanding is of little use unless it is governed by a love for God and our fellow human beings.

PRAYER

Lord, help me to reach the needy people where I live, not only with the message of your salvation but also with practical help that is motivated by divine love. 

Jim Peacock MA (Hons), Diploma of Teaching.