The Good Samaritan

The parable of the Good Samaritan is the most popular and referenced parable in the Gospels.  I searched for “Good Samaritan” on Google and got over 11 million hits, few or which actually refer to the Bible story itself.  They don’t have to, everyone knows the story.  Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of hospitals, roadside service organizations and others have taken the name “Good Samaritan.”

Yet, in some sense, by doing this, we have “tamed” the parable, laying aside its power and depth.  We see the Good Samaritan as just a nice guy who helps out people in trouble as best he can.  The lesson we learn is simple – be nice like the Samaritan, particularly when you see that others that need your help.   There is so much more.

Like most of the parables in Luke’s gospel – stories which go beyond the simple parable and become rich, allegorical lessons – the setting of the story is a key to understanding its purpose and its teaching.      

A scribe – an expert in the Jewish law – asks Jesus what he must do inherit eternal life.  Rightly, Jesus turns the question back to the law itself, asking the scribe how he reads the law.  This was a standard exercise is Jewish teaching, for the Law was considered God’s divine word, and following it was considered the path to righteousness.  Yet often the Law would need to be interpreted to meet changing conditions.  Compromises would have to be drawn when parts of the law would conflict with other parts in a particular situation, with priority given to those laws which ranked higher in importance.  The scribe answers well.  He cites the Shema – love God with you whole heart, your whole soul and your whole strength, and connects this love of God with love of neighbor and love of self.  Jesus agrees with the scribe, yet the scribe insists on further definition, further parsing of what is necessary for eternal life.  Who is this neighbor I am to love as I love myself, as I love God?

Jesus sees that a simple discussion of semantics will not do – the scribe needs a story to truly understand the depth of what is required to fulfill the law, to realize the eternal life which Jesus – the incarnate Word of God – offers to each of us.

Jesus shocks the scribe by using a Samaritan as the hero of his story, for the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other.  Though they shared much history, they considered each other as apostates to true faith in God, as blood enemies.  They jealously protected their “turf” much as modern day gangs do today.  Jews and Samaritans were the Crips and the Bloods, the Jets and the Sharks of their day.  The scribe’s discomfort can be seen in his reply when asked to identify the “neighbor.”  He cannot even mouth the word “Samaritan,” simply stating that the one who showed mercy was the neighbor.

But there is more.  Why did the Samaritan come to the man’s aid?  After all, he had plenty of reasons to pass by.  For some reason, he was in enemy territory and had to be wary of attacks himself.  If someone saw him tending to the man, they would have assumed he was the attacker.  What good would that do?  And how much could he possibly do anyways?  The man will probably die no matter what.

I can easily picture this conversation in the Samaritan’s head for that same conversation has often coursed through my own mind.  I have often rationalized why I should not help some beggar in the street, or some poor soul that looks like they could use my help.  I’m really busy now.  I’ll be late if I stop.  If I give him something, he’ll just waste it.  I can’t give much anyways.  What good would my little bit do? What if this is just a trick to cheat me of my money?  Shouldn’t he try harder to get a job?  What if I try to help and something goes wrong?  Can I be sued?  And the rationalization goes on and on.

Yet for the Samaritan, my rationalization is meaningless, for he is “moved with compassion” at the sight of the wounded man.  The Greek work that Luke uses here is the same word he uses to describe Jesus’ reaction at the sight of the funeral procession for the only son of the widow of Nain.  The Samaritan doesn’t act like me, he acts like Jesus.  He is driven to act by love in his heart.  Moses tells us today (Dt 30:10-14) that God’s law is not something esoteric, inaccessible or far removed from us – it is in our hearts. 

That is why, when faced with one who desperately needs my help, my mind has to work overtime to rationalize away the demands of my heart.

But there is more.  Before the Samaritan comes on the scene, a priest and a Levite come across the man.  They don’t help.  In fact, they both “cross on the opposite side” to avoid the man.  Why this detail?  Is Jesus just taking a cheap shot at the pretentiousness or hypocrisy of the clergy?  Not really.  He is simply showing what happens when we misinterpret the law.  The priest and the Levite were bound by the purity laws concerning worship at the temple.  Contact with a dead human body – even being within four feet of a dead human body – would have made them ritually unclean.  They would not have been able to fulfill their responsibilities in the sacrifice at the Temple – and that was their job.  And it was an important job, a holy job – it was all about showing love to God.  Hence, their reading of the law not only prevented them from offering help, it insisted that they “cross to the opposite side” to avoid even the hint of impurity.  They were not evil; they simply misunderstood the primacy of the law of love.  They didn’t get the intimate and unbreakable connection between love of God and love of neighbor.

The parable teaches me that I should be “moved with compassion” at the sight of human need, that my love of God is meaningless until it is reflected in my love of neighbor, and that my neighbor includes all people, even those whose name I cannot speak.  The Samaritan is not simply good; he is holy, for he acts as Jesus does; he acts with Jesus’ love. 

Jesus says to the scribe, as he says to me, as he says to you, “Go and do likewise.”