The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 10:25-37
“A
religion scholar, trying to trip up Jesus, asked, ‘What do I need to do to get
eternal life?' . . .Jesus answered, 'Love
the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and strength and
intelligence—and love your
neighbor as well as you do yourself.'"
28
"Good answer!" said
Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."
29
Looking for a loophole, he asked,
"And just how would you define 'neighbor'?" 30 Jesus
answered by telling a story.
"There
was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked
by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him
half-dead. 31 Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road,
but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. 32 Then a
Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33
"A Samaritan (to Jewish people he was the “bad guy”) traveling
the road came on him. When he
saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. 34 He gave him
first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his
donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. 35 In the
morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying,
'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you
on my way back.'
36
"What do you think? Which of
the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?" 37 "The
one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.
Jesus
said, "Go and do the same."
Question
What
do verses 34 and 35 tell you about the meaning of the compassion
that the Samaritan felt in verse 33? What prevents you from being
“interruptible” for the sake of others’ needs?
that the Samaritan felt in verse 33? What prevents you from being
“interruptible” for the sake of others’ needs?
In case anyone was confused by the first few verses in this reading, it is because this version smushed together 26 & 27 for some reason. After the scholar asks "What must I do to inherit eternal life?", Jesus (like the good teacher He is) asks him, "What is written in the Law?". Then the scholar gives the answer "Love the Lord your God...etc". Then the scholar looks for the loophole.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of several stories Jesus tells to hammer home the point that (in the words of John Ortberg in Who Is This Man?), "For Jesus the categories break down like this: It's not us and them. It's perfect and not perfect. It's holy and sinful. Which puts all of humanity on the same side: the wrong side. But Jesus was determined to make that HIS side."