The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:30–35 KJV 1900

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34 And went to him, and 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. 35 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.

The Context of the Parable

Jesus tells this story of “The Good Samaritan” in response to a question.

Luke 10:25 KJV 1900

25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

The word “tempted” is an unfortunate example of how English words change in meaning over time. The same word here translated as “tempted,” also carries the idea of “testing” or “proving.” The man may have had poor motives, or he may simply have been curious.

He called Jesus, “Master,” or “Teacher.” He saw Jesus as being knowledgeable of the the things of God, and this man wanted to know Jesus take on how he could inherit eternal life. He wanted to know what he needed to do. What hoops he needed to jump through.

My favorite moments as a teacher of the Word are when I am asked questions even if they are hard questions that I don’t have an answer to. Jesus was an expert teach, and He loved to answer questions. So Jesus responds to the man.

Luke 10:26 KJV 1900

26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

The man’s occupation was a lawyer, or an expert in the Jewish law. So it is to the law of Moses that Jesus sends them.

This is not confuse us into thinking that we can somehow do enough good to enter into Heaven.

Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV 1900

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Jesus made it a point to regularly draw His hearers back to sacred scripture, as it is our authority for faith and practice.

John 5:39 KJV 1900

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

The man answers Jesus back with His observations, by citing the Law of Moses

Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV 1900

5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Leviticus 19:18 KJV 1900

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

He answered well, but in going to the Law, we see Jesus desired affect. God’s Word reveals who we truly are.

Hebrews 4:12 KJV 1900

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The living Word cuts to the deepest parts of our heart and exposes our innermost thoughts for what they truly are. This is what happened to this man. For in delving back into the law, he found a gap in his own life, and when Jesus said, “this do and thou shalt live,” he knew he needed a way out. We know this is his motive because Luke tells us that he was “willing to justify himself.” He needed an excuse for why he was not living up to God’s command.

He asks the question, “And who is my neighbor?”

The Content of the Parable

Jesus tells us that a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jericho is 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem, but the old road between the two cities was 30 miles as it twisted over rugged, mountainous, rocky terrain. It was a dangerous path. Because many wealthy and influential people passed between the two cities, the location attracted robbers who would pray upon the unsuspecting travelers. This is the setting where our parable begins.

As our parable opens a man is traveling to Jericho from Jerusalem. He is likely returning from a pilgrimage for one of the feasts, or perhaps he had some business in the holy city. Whatever the case, he found his safety and welfare compromised by a surprise attack.

I. The Characters Involved

A. The Priest

Priests had the unique role of offering up sacrifices to God in the temple. They were consecrated for this special role. They were held to a high standard of moral living, because it was their job to stand before God on behalf of the people. If anyone should have helped this poor man. It was the priest.

Yet when the priest sees the man, he crossed the road and passed over on the other side.

B. The Levite

The Levites were the sacred tribe of Israel. Their part was the maintenance of the temple as well as performing religious services. As servants of God, again, these should have been the first to attend to the wounded man. Yet they simply look at him, and cross on the other side.

C. The Samaritan

The Samaritans were a separate ethnic group living in Judea at the time of Jesus. Their exact origin is unknown, because many of the historical accounts that tell us of the Samaritans come from Jewish historians...

…and the Jews HATED the Samaritans.

Why?

Separate lineage

“The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The capital of the country was Samaria, formerly a large and splendid city. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2-11). These foreigners intermarried with the Israelite population that was still in and around Samaria. These “Samaritans” at first worshiped the idols of their own nations, but being troubled with lions, they supposed it was because they had not honored the God of that territory. A Jewish priest was therefore sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in the Jewish religion. They were instructed from the books of Moses, but still retained many of their idolatrous customs. The Samaritans embraced a religion that was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry (2 Kings 17:26-28). Because the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and adopted their idolatrous religion, Samaritans were universally despised by the Jews.”

The Jews of Jesus day despised the Samaritans, because they were not proper Jews. Meanwhile the Samaritan tradition holds that they are descendents of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. They claimed to be true Israelites, and saw the Jews as apostate and corrupt.

Separate worship

By the time of Jesus, the worship of the Samaritans was focused on the Lord God, but they rejected the worship of the Jews. Their worship was and still is today very similar to the Jews, but with a couple of very notable differences.

First, the Samaritans held that the worship of God in Jerusalem was a mistake. They believed that the proper place of worship was not Zion, but a place called Mt. Garizim. It was the place where Joshua blessed Israel upon entering the promised land. The Samaritans believed that worship in Jerusalem was a corrupt religion.

“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” (John 4:20, KJV 1900) - Woman at the Well

The Second difference between the Jews and the Samaritans is found in their version of the scriptures. Because the Samaritans rejected much of Jewish history, they also rejected much of the Old Testament scriptures with the exception of Samaritan version of the five books of Moses, (Genesis-Deuteronomy).

These differences created a growing tension that erupted in regular conflicts between the two groups.

As far as the Jews were concerned, the only “good” Samaritan was a dead Samaritan.

That is what makes Jesus’s story so compelling. The people who should have helped their wounded countryman never lifted so much as a finger, but a despised Samaritan, an enemy, showed compassion.

The Conclusion of the Parable

Compassion caused the Samaritan to look beyond himself

Compassion caused the Samaritan to give, sacrificially

He used his own resources to administer aid

He allowed the man to ride on his own beast

He used his own money to see to the mans care and recovery

He made a commitment to return to the man and see how he fared

The compassion of the Samaritan drove him to demonstrate Christlike love for someone that was so at odd with himself. He had different believes and customs. The two men on any other day, or at any other occasion would have found themselves as bitter enemies. Yet the compassion of the Samaritan tore through those barriers.

A Jesus concludes His teaching, He poses a question, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be the wounded man’s neighbor?” The Lawyer answered, “The one who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus gives the admonition, “Go and do likewise.” You go and show mercy and compassion on others whom you have despised. You go and love that person from another church or religion. You go and love that person who voted for a different presidential candidate. You go and love that person who has wrecked their lives by their own poor decisions, that you don’t feel worthy of a second chance. You go and love as Jesus loves.

It may be that your act of love and compassion may be the only glimpse of Jesus that person has ever had. How can we tell them of a Christ who loves, if we don’t first demonstrate that love?

Or is it possible that we have (in a sense) negated the life changing truth of the gospel, because we are not living that truth for ourselves?

The truth is

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus loved the world, and died for sinners. We have the awesome position of sharing that message, let us share it worthily. May we put our feet to our Words. May we go and do like the good Samaritan.