The Story of the Good Samaritan

Our Topic for Today:

• What did Jesus teach about breaking through cultural and social barriers to address real physical needs of humanity?
• What (if anything) does the parable of the Good Samaritan have to do with current issues today in our own society?

[source:  Wikipedia ]

The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt(1630)

The parable of the Good Samaritan is a parable told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (10:25-37). In the parable, a traveller, presumably Jewish, is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by. Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured Jew. Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to a question regarding the identity of the "neighbour" which Leviticus 19:18 says should be loved.

Portraying a Samaritan in positive light would have come as a shock to Jesus' audience. It is typical of his provocative speech in which conventional expectations are inverted.

Samaritans and Jesus

Samaritans were hated by Jesus's target audience, the Jews,to such a degree that the Lawyer's phrase "The one who had mercy on him" may indicate a reluctance to name the Samaritan. The Samaritans in turn hated the Jews. Tensions were particularly high in the early decades of the first century because Samaritans had desecrated the Jewish Temple at Passover with human bones.

The Good Samaritan by Van Gogh

As the story reached those who were unaware of the oppression of the Samaritans, this aspect of the parable became less and less discernible: fewer and fewer people ever heard of them in any context other than as a description. Today the story is often recast in a more modern setting where the people are ones in equivalent social groups known to not interact comfortably. Thus cast appropriately, the parable regains its message to modern listeners: namely, that an individual of a social group they disapprove of can exhibit moral behavior that is superior to individuals of the groups they approve. Many Christians have used it as an example of Christianity's opposition to racial, ethnic and sectarian prejudice.
 For example, anti-slavery campaigner William Jay described clergy who ignored slavery as "following the example of the priest and Levite."
Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, described the Samaritan as "a man of another race,"^[7] while Sundee Tucker Frazier saw the Samaritan more specifically as an example of a mixed-race person.^[15]Klyne Snodgrass writes "On the basis of this parable we must deal with our own racism but must also seek justice for, and offer assistance to, those in need, regardless of the group to which they belong."

Samaritans appear elsewhere in the Gospels. In the Gospel of Luke Jesus heals ten lepers and only the Samaritan among them thanks him (Luke 17:11-19), although Luke 9:51-56 depicts Jesus receiving a hostile reception in Samaria.^[8] Luke's favorable treatment of Samaritans is in line with Luke's favorable treatment of the weak and of outcasts generally. In John, Jesus has an extended dialogue with a Samaritan woman, and many Samaritans come to believe in him. In Matthew, however, Jesus instructs his disciples not to preach in pagan or Samaritan cities (Matthew 10:5-8). In the Gospels generally, "though the Jews of Jesus' day had no time for the 'half-breed' people of Samaria," Jesus "never spoke disparagingly about them," and "held a benign view of Samaritans."

The model for the Samaritan's kindly behavior in the parable may be 2 Chronicles 28:8-15, in which Samaritans treat Judean prisoners well.

More about the Tension between the Samaritan and the Jew

The Good Samaritan by Delacroix

The tensions between north and south are described in the narratives in Genesis about the rivalries among the twelve sons of Jacob. Those were temporarily united under the strong kingship of David and Solomon, but at the death of Solomon, it came to be split into two kingdoms; the northern Israel with its capital Samaria and the southern Judea with its capital Jerusalem.

From the perspective of the Deuteronomistic Historians, writing in Judah, the northern Israel was a sinful kingdom and was divinely punished for its idolatry and iniquity by being destroyed by the Assyrian in 722 BCE. Ironically, the Chronicler is very generous to the south Judah and considers it God's will to recover the chosen people that they were destroyed by Babylon and exiled to Babylon.

The tensions continued in the postexilic period. According to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, Ezra-Nehemiah is hostile toward its northern neighbors and considers the northern Israel except for the "true Israel". While the Chronicles is more inclusive than Ezra-Nehemiah since for the Chronicler the ideal is of one Israel with twelve tribes, the Chronicler emphasises on Judah and ignores the northern Israel.^[11]

Unlike the Chronicler, the Samaritan claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "lost" tribes taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary. Moreover, they even claimed that their version of the Pentateuch was the original and that the Jews had a falsified text produced by Ezra during the Babylonian exile.

Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group, and neither was to enter each other's territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, although the tensions went unrecognized by Roman authorities, Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century.^[12]

Click image to read Good Samaritan poem by Henry Lawson

Excerpt from a Unitarian Universalist discussion of the parable of the Good Samaritan

Read the parable of the Good Samaritan and imagine yourself in each character’s role. 


And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what 
shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how 
readest thou? 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 neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this 
do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And 
who is my neighbor? 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. And by chance there 
came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the 
other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on 
him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, 
came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 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. 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. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that 
fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said 
Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. 
                                                                                                       
                                                                                                      —Luke 10:25-37 




Discussion Questions
1. With whom in this story do you most closely identify? Why? 
2. At what point in this story is the critical injustice? 
3. What would your impulse be if you were the Samaritan? Would you pass by on the side 
of the road? Retell the story widely? Set up first aid stations along the road? Make the road safe by policing it? Arrest the robbers and punish them? Restore the thieves to the 
community? Question a society that produces thieves? 
4. Did the Good Samaritan engage in social education, social service, social witness, or 
social action? What was your response?