1. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

The parable of the Good Samaritan has several layers of meaning. We shall try to discover some of these meanings.

Note that the lawyer’s question in Luke 10:25 was a good one, but that he probably was not asking it sincerely since he was testing Jesus. The lawyer’s insincerity may explain why Jesus at first pointed him to the law. If the lawyer had been honest with himself and the Lord Jesus, he would have responded (in verse 29) with something like, "God be merciful to me a sinner," rather than a desire to justify himself. In order to justify himself he pretended not to know who his neighbor was. The parable’s first layer of meaning is to answer this question:"Who is my neighbor?"

What answer does the parable give? Who is this lawyer’s (and our) neighbor? The answer is every one we meet to whom we can minister in some way. The Samaritan was not personally acquainted with the wounded man; in fact he was not even from the same neighborhood or culture. The Jews despised the Samaritans and, perhaps, vice versa. The Samaritan did not help the man because he liked him or found his company enjoyable or because he could expect anything in return. He helped the man because the man needed help and it was right to help him. The parable then tells us who our neighbor is (anyone we might meet), what love is (meeting the needs of others, even at a cost to ourselves), and the motivation for giving love and help (because it is right to do so).

But the lawyer had asked a more basic question:"What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Some see this parable as an allegory of the gospel of Christ and thus an answer to this question as well. The man represents the sinner going down from the place of blessing (Jerusalem) to the place of the curse (Jericho, see Josh. 6:26). On the way he is robbed, beaten, and left for dead. He will die if no one helps him and he is in no condition to help himself.

The priest and the Levite represent religion, education, and other human-inspired means of rescuing the helpless. But such efforts cannot help the totally helpless since they all require some measure of self-help ("works") on the part of the needy; and so the priest and the Levite see him but pass by.

The Samaritan, who under ordinary circumstances would be despised and rejected by the man from Jerusalem, represents Christ who was despised and rejected (Isa. 53:3; John 1:11), and was even called a Samaritan by certain Jews (John 8:48) because that was the worst insult they could think of. The Samaritan of the parable paid whatever price was necessary for the healing of the man, and the Lord Jesus paid whatever was necessary (an infinitely higher price than that paid by the Samaritan) for our healing and redemption. The wounded man’s only hope of retaining his natural life was to submit to the ministrations of the Samaritan; and the lawyer’s (and everyone’s) only hope of gaining eternal life was to acknowledge his need of salvation through Christ.

The third layer of meaning in the parable for Christians is related to the first. We can apply it to ourselves in the form of a few questions. Do we behave in the presence of human need as the priest and Levite did? Are we so concerned with maintaining spiritual or ecclesiastical purity that we ignore or even, in some cases, actually reject those who are poor or sick in spirit or in body? The Christ-figure in the parable, the Samaritan, gave up his time, his own comfort, and some of his money to help the wounded man just because he needed help. May the Lord grant each of us the grace to behave the same way the Samaritan did in this parable and the same way Christ so often does toward us.