The Sacrificial and Generous Samaritan

The Good Samaritan is one of the most familiar parables of Jesus, and it is only found in Luke’s gospel, (Luke 10:25 – 37). This story reveals the attributes of the Son that the Father is searching for in those who are seeking to become true worshipers.

Jesus told this story in a hostile environment. The Good Samaritan story was told to a lawyer who stood up to test Jesus with the question, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:25. It was a test because there were different rabbinic traditions on the answer to that question.

Jesus turned the question to the lawyer, and asked, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Jesus could teach from any point in the Law and Prophets concerning Himself because He fulfilled every word of the Law and Prophets. The lawyer answered with the classic summary of the Law and Prophets from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus confirmed that this was correct.

But the lawyer had an ulterior motive. Now the real trap was in play. Jesus already had the reputation for loving the unlovable and reaching out to those who were outside the covenant of Israel. The lawyer knew that Jesus would be going against His reputation if He excluded in His answer those He had been ministering to. But he also knew that within the classic answer, the definition of “neighbor” meant those whom you were most like and liked the most. The answer Jesus gave caught him off guard.

We are familiar with the story line. Traveler going down from Jerusalem is robbed and beaten by terrorists; priest comes by and goes around; Levite comes by and goes around (Leviticus is named for this tribe of priests). The surprising element was the one who stopped and sacrificially gave of himself and his resources to help the man who had been robbed and left for dead; a Samaritan.

The Jews hated the Samaritans on every level. They were viewed as enemies. But this Samaritan had compassion, which fueled his sacrificial gifts of oil, wine, donkey, and accommodations for the wounded traveler, even though the wounded traveler was Jewish and would view him as an enemy. To understand the surprise element would be to tell this story in our country in 1944 with a German stopping to help the American, or a Japanese. Or during the cold war, a Russian bandaging the wounds and paying the hospital bill for the wounded American.

Then came the question for the lawyer to answer his question (a common rabbinic teaching method); “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 10:36. The lawyer answered, “The one who showed him mercy.” And the lawyer had his answer on how to love others.

Today, meditate on this familiar story to see how the actions of the Samaritan were an act of worship that pleases the Father. How does being compassionate and merciful express the character of God? Look for ways to express the compassion of Christ and the mercy of the Father to people that cross your path today, and know that this is what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth.