“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?” Luke 10:30-36
My Summary & Reflection
A man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was mugged by some thieves. These thieves stripped the man of his clothes and beat him, leaving him alone and half dead. After the thieves had gone, along came a priest who saw the critically injured man. But the priest merely passed by him without offering any assistance. A while later a Levite, a respected member of the community, also journeyed along the same route. He, too, saw the man who had been beaten and robbed. And he, too, passed by the man without offering any assistance. Finally, a Samaritan, who was not a member of the beaten man’s faith or community, travelled along the route as well. When the Samaritan saw the poor condition of the man, he bound up the man’s wounds, and took him to a nearby inn. Before he left the next day, he paid the host of the inn to take care of the man. Jesus then ends the parable by asking, which of these men was a neighbor to the man who had been robbed and beaten?
This parable is often titled, “The Good Samaritan.” I entitled it, “A True Neighbor” because it occurred to me that the point of this parable was not that the man who showed mercy to the person who had been robbed and beaten was a Samaritan, but that he was a true neighbor despite any cultural or other boundaries. To put this parable in context, this story was told to a man while discussing the requirement to “[love] thy neighbor as thyself.” The man asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” The parable goes on to show how neither the priest nor the Levite, both respected members of the community to which the beaten man belonged, acted as neighbors to the man. They both ignored his wounded condition and, in fact, left him alone to die. It was only the Samaritan, a cultural stranger and a foreigner to the injured man’s community, who acted as a true neighbor. He stepped up and stepped in to provide life-saving assistance to someone he seemingly had no obligation to, for no benefit to himself. He not only provided his own time to care for the man, but he also provided money to the innkeeper to care for the man until the man was able to care for himself.
This parable ends with the question, “which of these men was a neighbor?” The man to whom Jesus was speaking replies, “He that shewed mercy on him.” To that Jesus replies “Go, and do thou likewise.” With that, Jesus is telling each of us that everyone, regardless of the boundaries that we have divided ourselves with, is a neighbor to be shown mercy. We should each love one another, regardless of our earthly status, culture, faith, or any separations as we love ourselves. We are all neighbors with one another.
Your Reflection
- Why do you think that the priest and the Levite passed by without offering aid to the injured man?
- If you had been on that road, what would you have done?
- In Jesus’ eyes, are you a loving neighbor?
- What keeps you from being a loving neighbor?