The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the best-known parables of Jesus. But like all parables, they serve as illustrations. They shed light on a topic and flesh it out. So when we interpret this parable, we must first find out why Jesus uses this parable. What is Jesus trying to shed light on? At first it might seem that it is to answer the religious lawyer’s question: “Who is my neighbor?” whereas there is truth in this statement, there is more to the parable to this than simply to answer this question. To find out why Jesus used this parable, we must look to the entire exchange between Jesus and the lawyer.
When we start at verse 25, we see that the lawyer initiated the dialog. He asks Jesus what good work he should do to inherit eternal life. It also says he asked Jesus to test Him. This was an unusual question to ask as many Jews thought that they inherited eternal life just because they were Jews and that God had promised eternal life to them. It is true that some thought eternal life could be lost by apostacy from Jerusalem. But the view was that eternal life was something not to be lost rather than something to be gained.
In typical rabbinic fashion, Jesus answered the man’s question with a question. He asked the lawyer how he understood the Scripture. The man responded with the well-known combination of the Jewish “Shema” which commanded the Israelite to complete loving commitment to Yahweh. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” Every Jew was expected to memorize this. But the man adds to this a quote from Leviticus 19: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This too was known by the Jews. Jesus Himself had put these commandments together (Matthew 22:40). These two were the great commandments upon which the Law and the Prophets hung.
Jesus commends the man for having given the correct answer. He adds: “Do this and you shall live.” Jesus’ words sank deep into this man’s heart. They shined upon a defect in the man’s character. The defect did not seem to center upon his devotion to Yahweh, although he should have seen the problem here as this comes first. Instead, he was bothered by the second commandment about love for neighbor which is truly the demonstration of our love for the LORD.
So the men that asks: “Who is my neighbor?” For many Jews, the neighbor was not the person who lived the closest to him or her. It was the closest JEWISH neighbor. Perhaps this man was troubled by this interpretation. Perhaps God had pricked his heart that this was an unsatisfactory response to the second great commandment. The Law of Moses commanded that the strangers who lived within Israel were to be equally treated under the Law. “There shall be one law for you and for the stranger (Exodus 12:49; Leviticus 24:22; Numbers 15:16 et al). As this man was a scholar of the Scripture, he was aware of these verses.
So Jesus answers this question with a parable. He starts it out with the conventional form of the parable. People knew the dangers of the Jericho road. It was narrow and tortured. There were cliffs with caves where robbers would hide on one side and a sheer drop into a canyon on the other. The road was unsafe for the solitary traveler. The robbers would swoop down on the victim in a violent attack and rob him. Usually the victim would be thrown off the cliff afterward as leaving him bloody on the road would warn others of the presence of these highwaymen. But in this case, the half-dead body of the man was left lying on the road.
Jesus goes on by noting that a priest happened to be going down the road. The LORD had called the priests to intercede for the people and their troubles. But the priest was also not to touch a dead body as well (Leviticus 21). The priest also realized that their were robbers in the area. To be off guard by stooping down to check the man put his own life at risk. It is also interesting to note that he was going DOWN the road rather than up the road. The priest was headed toward Jericho and not Jerusalem. There is a metaphor here that people today are likely to miss. One always ascended to Jerusalem regardless of the elevation of the place from which they came. There is a moral component to this. He was morally descending as well as physically descending. The priest who was to be totally dedicated to the service of Yahweh was headed in the wrong direction, EVEN THOUGH he could reason from Scripture that he was avoiding contact with a dead body even though the man was not yet dead. The hearers of this parable probably justified the priest’s action because of this. So the priest passed by on the other side. Perhaps he kept his head up so as not to look at his need for compassion. If he passed by on the side of the road next to the sheer drop, his lack of looking where he was going could have made his descent quite fast.
Jesus reinforces his parable by having a Levite pass by next. Even though Levites were dedicated to the service of Yahweh like the priest, there was no prohibition to touching a dead body other than they would be unclean for seven days. So the Levite didn’t have the excuse that priest had. Nevertheless, he does the same thing as the priest and passes by.
Now the parable turns from the conventional to the shocking. The next person on the scene was a Samaritan. Although the Samaritan people had some Israelite blood, they were of mixed race. The Jews in Nehemiah’s time refused to let the Samaritans help in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The priests and Levites were ordered to divorce their foreign wives and dismiss the children of that marriage. The Jews had burnt down the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim as well. The Samaritan could not have been more different than either the pureblooded priest or Levite.
The Samaritan saw the man and his need. We know nothing of the racial identity of the man who was robbed. But if he were a Jew, it would have made this parable even more outrageous. But Jesus does not identify this man as a Jew. It would actually go against the interpretation of the parable if he did. It really does not matter who the person’s ethnic identity was. The necessary identity of this person was than he was in desperate need of medical attention or he would die. Whether a stranger or a member of the Covenant, the law of compassion equally applied. The Samaritan believed in the first five books of the Scripture, the Torah. He actually applied the Scripture he knew. It is true that he did not hold to the Prophets and that there were some serious theological defects in the Samaritan religion. Yet for all the Samaritan man’s faults, he was actually closer to the truth than the more orthodox Jews. The lawyer had already realized the great commandments of the Law upon which the rest of the Law was to be interpreted. Every other law or precept was to be interpreted in light of these great commandments. The Samaritan was actually putting these commandments into practice.
The rest of the story is familiar to most. The Samaritan pours oil and wine into the wounds and bandaged the wounds. He put himself at great risk as a merchant would be choice prey for the robbers. But his need to care for the man was greater than the danger he faced. He put the man on his beast and brought him to an inn. He left money with the innkeeper to care for this poor man and promised to repay him if the expenses exceeded the denarius he had given the innkeeper. He then resumed the journey he was on. When he completed the business trip, he would check back in. What an example of care! No wonder the example set by the man has become the metaphor for Good Samaritan ministries.
Jesus had made this parable most lifelike. We, or course must realize that this is a parable. The particular Good Samaritan might not have lived. But he lives whenever people risk danger and overcome prejudices to care for people in need.
Jesus finishes the parable and asks the lawyer one more question: “Which of these three was the neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?” There is always power in getting someone else to answer their own question. Through the parable, the lawyer became able to answer his question to Jesus on who his neighbor was. He answered: “The one who showed mercy.” Jesus responds by saying: “Go and do likewise.”
So the parable goes beyond just answering a question of who one’s neighbor was, even though it does include this. It shines out the proper understanding and application of the Law. The Law’s primary purpose is to demonstrate the mercy and love of God to humanity as well as a command to model this love and mercy to others. The Good Samaritan stands as a case law example which shows us how this principle of love and mercy should be acted out. Even the Ten Commandments begin with the words: “I AM Yahweh your God which brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:1). These are words of love and mercy. Israel was crying out half-dead in Egyptian bondage. God showed them mercy and delivered them out of Egypt. He fed them and gave them drank on the way. He led them into a promised land. Likewise, Jesus disregarded the dangers of death and was wounded and killed in our behalf. This was an act of sheer mercy and love. Jesus proved His love for the Father by demonstrating this love upon helpless humanity which was dead in trespasses and sin. He died for us. But He also arose, healed and healing.
So we are likewise challenged to demonstrate God’s love and mercy by showing the same to others. They do not deserve mercy any more than we did. But nevertheless, God expects us to be like Him, to follow the example of the Son whom He sent. We must move beyond the prejudices we have and show mercy. We don’t deserve eternal life of course, yet we have been graced with eternal life. Eternal life does have its proper understanding in a never-ending life with Jesus, but it is also a quality of life which we are to live and
demonstrate in the here-and-now. Even though our works do not save us. We do nothing to inherit anything. BUT if we are saved by God’s grace, we are transformed by that grace. “We love him because He first loved us.” By God’s grace we are transformed to be gracious. By being loved by God wholly, we can Love Him wholly in return. And the proof of this love is demonstrated to out neighbor.
