Parable of the Good Samaritan, Part 2
This Week's Bible Reading: Luke 10:25-37
Supporting Passages: Luke 9:51-56; John 4:1-26
A few weeks ago, we explored the parable of the Rich Fool. I pointed out that it was one of the few parables where Jesus takes on a topic directly. Jesus tackled the subject of greed by telling a story about a man who hoarded his possessions.
The Good Samaritan also falls into this category of parables. Jesus used this story to directly address the command to love your neighbor. The Samaritan’s compassion for the injured man is not a metaphor for some other topic.
[SIDENOTE: There are a few commentators who would disagree with this me on this. Some see this parable as purely an allegory for the way Jesus saved us. I do not dismiss this view entirely, and we will explore it in a few weeks. But first and foremost, I believe Jesus used this parable to tackle the lawyer's question about who our neighbor is.]
We commonly associate the word Samaritan with someone who goes out of their way to help others. But this was not its original meaning. To truly appreciate the story's twist ending, we need to understand the history of bad blood between the Jews and Samaritans.
The feud between these two groups began centuries before Jesus. When the Assyrians conquered northern Israel, they intermarried with the Jews. Their descendants became known as Samaritans because Samaria was the capital of Israel.
The Jews saw Samaritans as half-breeds. Though they had similar views on God, the Samaritans built a different temple to worship him in. (This is why when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, she says, "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem" [John 4:20, NIV].)
At times, their feud seemed like nothing more than a petty practical joke war. For example, the Jews had a ritual of lighting fires to signal the new year. So, the Samaritans got the clever idea to light fires at random intervals to confuse them. I guess this would be like someone in your neighborhood shooting off a massive fireworks display in the middle of September!
But other times, things got violent. Several years after Jesus' death, in about 50 A.D., Samaritans slaughtered a group of Jews traveling through Samaria. In response, Jews burned down some Samaritan villages.
As I researched the tension between Jews and Samaritans, I came across a quote that perfectly sums it up. This quote comes from an ancient writing called the Testament of Levi. The author is discussing Shechem, a major Samaritan city:
Shechem shall be called "City of the Senseless," because as one might scoff at a fool, so we scoffed at them. (7:2)
City of the Senseless! That sounds like a jab a modern-day politician might make, right?
Imagine a candidate for mayor saying, "We don't want to turn into that city over there, run by those senseless liberals." Or, "If you don't vote for me, we'll become like that city run by backward conservatives."
Here's why I bring this up: While we may not understand the animosity between Jews and Samaritans, we carry our own disdain for certain people. Jesus' parable has something to say to us about who our neighbors are and how to love them well.
Despite their hatred for each other, Jews and Samaritans still crossed paths in everyday life. In the parable, the Samaritan was coming back from Jerusalem. He may have been doing business there.
In the same way, we can't completely avoid the people we're not fond of. They may be our co-workers, the people in line at the grocery store, or our literal neighbors across the street. They may even sit next to us at church! We might not "hate" them the way Jews and Samaritans hated each other. But we still try to limit contact with them as much as possible.
Have you ever seen somebody approaching you—maybe after church or while doing yard work—and immediately start looking for a way to escape? You don't want to get cornered by them and hear them drone on about some heated topic. I'm not proud to say I've felt this way before. (The temptation to give them the slip doubles when I'm on my mobilized scooter—especially knowing they can't catch me if I floor it!)
One chapter before Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, he and his disciples set out for Jerusalem. Jesus attempts to cut through a Samaritan village, but the locals do not want him there. This makes the disciples angry. Here is how they respond:
When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, "Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them. So they went on to another village. (Luke 9:54–56, NLT)
It's funny to me how nonchalant James and John are about calling down fire to burn up an entire village of people. Of course this is how Jesus wants us to deal with this senseless city, right? But then again, I can't judge them too much. Far too often, I am quick to write people off based on something I don't like about them.
This is why the parable of the Good Samaritan is more than a tale about doing good deeds. Jesus steps into all this bad blood—both in his day and ours—and shows us a better way to live. He challenges the idea that only certain people deserve our love.
In God's Kingdom, withholding compassion from another person is the most senseless thing we can do.
Questions to Ponder:
Does knowing a little bit of the history between Jews and Samaritans (and we've barely scratched the surface here!) change the way you view this parable? What else have you heard about the conflict between these groups?
Is there any person (or group of people) you try to avoid because you see them as "senseless"? How can you engage with them in a loving way, even if you disagree with their views?
In John 8:48, people try to write Jesus off by calling him "a Samaritan and demon-possessed." What are some ways we try to write people off by applying labels to them? How can we see them as neighbors worthy of our compassion instead?
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