“The Good Samaritan”

Thursday, June 15, 2017

This parable is perhaps one of the most well-known teachings of the Lord. There are hospitals and other healthcare organizations named Good Samaritan. Even those who may not be aware that this parable is in the New Testament will refer to someone who helps another person as a good Samaritan.

Only Luke records this story of Jesus; it is found in Luke 10:25-37.

Among those who know the parable, many are probably not knowledgeable of the interaction between Jesus and “a certain lawyer” that preceded the telling of the story. This lawyer was testing Him, which was a common occurrence in the Lord’s ministry. People were constantly trying to catch Him in some inconsistency that they could then use against Him.

The lawyer begins with a good question, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (verse 25). Christ asks him, in essence, “What does your Bible say?” The man then responds with what Jesus called in another place, the two greatest commands. Love God with all your being and love your fellow man.

But the man wanted to “justify himself.” And so, he asked one more question, about who should be considered his neighbor. That’s when the Savior told the parable.

The interesting thing about the parable is that the one person you would least expect to help someone in need is the one person who did help. This twist in the teaching is possible because of the tremendous hatred the Jews had for anyone who was not a fellow Jew.

The Gentiles were unclean, uncircumcised and the Jews despised them. They called them dogs and other such derogatory terms. And Samaritans, if possible, were even worse. They were half-breeds, part Jew and part Gentile. Useless and unworthy of any spiritual consideration was the Jewish opinion of Samaritans. Yet, the Samaritan was the one who helped the man in need (by the way, he is never actually called “the Good Samaritan”).

We note that the Bible also praises a Samaritan in the account in Luke 17:11-19, where ten lepers were healed and only one, a Samaritan, returns to thank Jesus.

Maybe the Lord is trying to teach us that every person has a soul and is important to God and needs salvation and that we should not pre-judge people based on their racial or cultural background.  What do you think?

--Roger Hillis

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