The Parable of the Good Samaritan

LUKE 10:25-37

"25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted Him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, 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.
28 And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
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.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."


In Luke 10:25 it says that a "lawyer" asked a question. In Greek (as it was originally written) it uses the word "νομικός" for "lawyer". This word in the New Testament means "an interpreter and teacher of the Mosaic law". He asked the first question (Luke 10:25) to see what kind of teacher Jesus was. In Luke 10:27 the "lawyer" referred to two verses from the Pentatuech to answer Jesus (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18) The "lawyer" asked the second question in Luke 10:29 "willing to justify himself" because he knew the answer to the first question and asked the second to gain credibility. He was essentially saying, "But the real question is: Who is my neighbor?"

Then Jesus told us a story of how to be a neighbor and what it means to love our neighbor. In the story Jesus tells us in Luke 10:30 that a man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. That is a distance of 17 miles and goes from 2,500 above sea level to about 800 below sea level. The road to travel on goes through a rocky desert area which was perfect for robbers who wished to ambush defenseless travelers. In Luke 10:31 Jesus states that a PRIEST saw the man and passed him on the other side and in Luke 10:32 a LEVITE (the Levites were a tribe specially set aside by God to do his service in the Church) did the same. Then in Luke 10:33 Jesus says that a SAMARITAN helped the man. Samaritans and Jews hated one another. Samaritans were viewed as "half-breeds". Jesus used a Samaritan to show that love knows no boundries.

The Good Samaritan had compassion on the man even when the priest and the Levite had not. He acted the way Christ would have and the way that Christ teaches us to act. He could of ignored the man and thought "that man is not my responsibility" or he could of done less to help him but he chose to do the Christ-like thing and to care for the man and even pay the inn keeper two pence (Luke 10:35) which was two days wages and would pay for the man to stay at the inn for two months because he knew that was the right thing to do.

Jesus asks the "lawyer" in Luke 10:36 which acted as a neighbor. Clearly the Samaritan did and Jesus commands us in Luke 10:37 to do the same. We are to love God with all that we have and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves and to act as Christ taught us. If we act in this way we will be showing that Christ is in us and we will share God's love with those around us.

INTERPRETATIONS

1) The traveler represents Jesus, and like the priest and Levite (well-versed in the Law of Moses) don't help the traveler, the Pharisees and Sadducees didn't recognize Jesus. In the parable a Samaritan helps the traveler, which represent how some common people recognized Jesus.

2) The traveler represents man leaving the Christian lifestyle (Jerusalem), and living worldly (Jericho). The theives represent evil which leaves man dying in sin in need of Christ. The priest and Levite refer to the law and sacrifices which can't help. The Good Samaritan is Jesus who provides help. The wine represents the blood of Jesus and the oil represents anointing oil.