Everyone has heard the term “Good Samaritan”. We know that being a Good Samaritan means helping someone else out, without being asked, in a critical time of need. Perhaps there has been a car accident or a fire, and someone selflessly, possibly at risk to their own safety, goes in to help the victim. They are acting as a Good Samaritan. Most Christians know that the term comes from the Bible, from a parable that Jesus told. However, do we know what’s behind the parable, everything that meant and implied when He told this. Let’s take a closer look at this very familiar parable of the Lord Jesus.
As our Scripture passage begins, Jesus was talking with one of the religious leaders, a man who was an “expert” in the Jewish religious law. They had been discussing the Old Testament laws of loving God and loving one’s neighbor (vs. 25-28). The man asked Jesus exactly who his neighbor was (vs. 29). The religious leaders believed that one’s neighbors were only the righteous. The wicked, in their mind tax collectors, prostitutes, Gentiles, and Samaritans, were to be scorned and hated. They felt that sinners certainly wouldn’t qualify as a neighbor, or one to show love and compassion to. The Pharisees had elevated hostility towards those “others” to the status of a virtue. Jesus then proceeded to tell this parable, showing him, and all of us, exactly who our neighbor is.
In order to fully understand this parable, one needs to know who the Samaritans were. Around the year 721 BC, the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the conquering Assyrian army. Similar to about 200 years later when Judah fell to the Babylonians, many of the people were taken captive and deported. The Assyrians then brought in people from the surrounding kingdoms to dwell in the land, and they intermarried with any remaining Israelites. Their descendants were the Samaritans we read about in the New Testament (II Kings 17:22-24). The Jews looked down on and despised the Samaritans, considering them a mixed race with a hybrid religion. Because of that, the Samaritans were not too fond of the Jews, either.
Jesus began the parable, telling of a Jewish man who was traveling out from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jericho was northeast of Jerusalem, and the road from Jerusalem to Jericho dropped in elevation by about 3,300 feet in about 17 miles. It was also a very dangerous journey because the road was very winding, with many places for criminals to hide. This Jewish man ran into one of these bands of criminals on his journey, and was robbed, severely beaten, and left to die (vs. 30). Some time after this attack, a priest came by, but he just passed the severely injured man, not even pausing. Then a Levite came. He paused to look at the man, but then continued on (vs. 31-32). Both of these men, as members of the clergy, should have stopped to help, but they didn’t. They may have been worried about becoming contaminated by touching blood, making them temporarily unclean. They may have been afraid for their own safety. They may have just been unconcerned. Those who claim to follow God should never be so callous about helping others.
As Jesus continued, a Samaritan man came by a while later. Unlike the priest and Levite, the Samaritan stopped and gave aid to the severely injured Jewish man (vs 33-35). He didn’t let racial or religious differences stop him from coming to the aid of this man. The Samaritan stopped, even though it may have put himself at risk, and attended to the man’s wounds, and then brought him to an inn to recover, paying for his care. As Jesus concluded the parable, many of His listeners were shocked. To portray a Samaritan as fulfilling God’s commandments, but Jews as circumventing it, was an insult to this religious leader and the rest of the audience.
Jesus spoke about showing God’s love and compassion without strings attached, even for an enemy. It can be difficult to show compassion to someone we might despise. It can also be difficult to receive help from such a person. Jesus shows that racial considerations are utterly transcended by God’s command to love Him, and thus to love others as He does, without prejudice or partiality.
This parable teaches us here that lack of love is often easy to justify, even though it is never right. In answer to the religious leader’s question, our neighbor is anyone, of any race or social background, who is in need. Love means acting to meet their needs, just as this Samaritan did, regardless of who it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment