The Good Samaritan

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/ywkxzr

In our country today there are some communities that have “Good Samaritan” laws. That means that if a citizen sees someone who is in need of help and does not help him in his need, then that citizen can be held guilty of negligence.

We would do well to have laws like this in all of our communities. Just think of the additional good that could be done if everyone took the responsibility to do the right thing!

Of course, not everyone will see the need to do good for others. Perhaps they will feel the burden to do so for a friend, but certainly not a stranger. James says in James 4:17, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

Jesus tells a famous parable about a man who is beaten, robbed and left half dead. Three people come by and see him in the road, but only one stops to do the right thing.

The first two are religious people. Priests were plentiful in the land of Palestine in this era. There were 24 divisions or orders of priests and Jericho and Jerusalem were both cities that were full of them.

The Levites were from the tribe of Levi but were not priests themselves. They would assist the priests in the various routines and functions of the temple.

The Samaritan man represented a whole class of people that the Jews despised. They rejected the Samaritans and treated them as if they were dogs.

Here now is this parable from Luke 10:25-37.

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”

And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Unlike the selfishness of the first two, the Samaritan man had a heart of compassion. The priest and Levite clearly saw the need, but made the choice to do nothing. But this man had compassion and helped the helpless man. Our issue should not be who deserves our help, rather who needs our help.

This Samaritan also has a mind of action. His duty was to help this man in need. Like the words of James, to see a chance to do good and walk away would be missing the mark, or a sin. Notice also that he not only took care of the immediate need, but also provided for the ongoing needs of this man.

Lastly, this Samaritan had a love for neighbors. The Jews mostly wanted to have a closed society. Any laws on loving neighbor as self would be applied to fellow Jews but not to others. For Gentiles or Samaritans the Jews would see no obligation whatsoever to help.

In this parable Jesus teaches that to fulfill the law to love one’s neighbor, one must include everyone in the category as neighbor. We are to show mercy to all, just as God offers it to us as well.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we pay particular attention to opportunities to do good today. May we jump at the chance to help someone whether we know them or not and experience the joy of loving our neighbor.

Our thought for the day: “Being all fashioned of the self-same dust, let us be merciful as well as just.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.