Knowing The Word in Luke 10:25-37, The Parable of the Good Samaritan

An expert in the law puts Jesus “to the test,” meaning he is not interested in the answer to his question but as to how Jesus will answer it. The issue is exactly who is a neighbor? The lawyer’s answer seems to be confined to the nation of Israel. Now Jesus will teach us how the New Testament will replace the Old Testament, and neighbor will take on new meaning. Jesus’ parable is not about salvation but about the definition of neighbor for the people of God. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is 17 miles long and descends 3000’ as it passes through wild country where robbers could easily hide. Jesus’ focus is on the “half dead” man, who is understood to be a Jew, needing someone to help him. The priest who passes by would be ceremonially unclean if he touched a corpse. Rather than investigate to see if the man is alive, he avoids him altogether. A Levite then follows the same pattern as the priest. The Jews and Samaritans had a bitter history. The Samaritan, then, is the last person expected to help. Here is the rub. It is the Samaritan who has compassion who sees a fellow human being and not an obstacle to navigate around. Tending to him and then putting the man in an inn, the Samaritan did not do the minimum but all he could. Instead of answering who a neighbor is, Jesus turned the question around: “To whom am I neighbor?” This expert in the Law must now rethink whether the priest and Levite who kept the moral purity laws really kept the law at all.

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Prayer: O God, who of thy great love to man didst reconcile earth to heaven through thine only-begotten Son: grant that we who by the darkness of our sins are turned aside from brotherly love, may be filled with his Spirit shed abroad within us, and embrace our friends in thee and our enemies for thy sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mozarabic Liturgy, 7th century