The Good Samaritan
March 18, 2001
Dear Friends:
In Luke 10:29-37, Jesus gives us what is known as the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable is introduced because a lawyer wanted to justify himself with the question “who is my neighbour?”
The lawyer had tested Jesus by asking him “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus had turned the question back to the lawyer who gave the correct answer. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself” was the lawyer’s response.
To most people, having given the correct response would have been enough. However, the lawyer asked the next logical question to a legally-oriented mind – “Who is my neighbor?” What he was really asking was “OK, so in order to declare myself righteous, I have to know who I have to treat well. I need to know the exact rule.” Jesus then appears to answer his question with the parable.
Students of Scripture will note that Jesus often does not answer the question to him as posed. Jesus was not about to answer a question concerning self-justification for a deceitful lawyer in keeping with the questioner’s intent. Instead, Jesus answers a better question.
In telling the parable, Jesus creates four characters; a certain man, a Levite, a priest and a Samaritan. While the certain man was fairly benign, the other three characters were chosen to evoke emotion from the hearer. Any good Jew would have respect for the Levite and the priest characters. They were charged with the spiritual well-being of Israel. The final character, that of the Samaritan, would evoke feelings of loathing.
We know from the parable that the man while traveling fell pray to robbers who left him “half dead” on the side of the road. The well-respected priest and Levite passed by without so much as lifting a finger to help. The Samaritan, on the other hand, goes above and beyond for the injured man. He “bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”
Although there are beautiful types and shadows of the redemptive work of Christ (as represented by the Samaritan), the point we wish to focus on is what question did Jesus answer. Is Jesus saying that those who are kind to us like the disliked Samaritan are our neighbors? Certainly not
Notice what he says to conclude the parable. “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” We are told the Samaritan was the neighbor. We are also told we should act like the Samaritan. In other words, Jesus didn’t answer the question “Who is my neighbor.” Jesus answered another question – “To whom are you a neighbor?” It doesn’t matter who is nice to us. What matters is to whom we are nice.
The real lesson of the Good Samaritan is that the two great commandments (to love God and to love our neighbor) are inseparably linked. We should love as we have been loved. We should show mercy as we have been shown mercy. We should serve as we have been served. The inheritance of eternal life is a gift that must be shared in order to be received.
Have a great week!
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