The parable of the Good Samaritan is perhaps one of the best known teachings of Jesus Christ. It took place in the last year of Jesus' ministry when His opposition was steadily rising among the "religious" leaders of Jerusalem. This parable was not a story told to the multitudes in general teaching but was the result of a specific question and encounter with a Jewish lawyer one day:

First of all we must understand that this man was not a lawyer in the sense of our legal "lawyers" today. He did not represent people going to court and such. This man was what it called in other places of scripture "a scribe," and was supposed to be an expert on the law of Moses. The "law" in question, then is not the legal or civil law of the Jews, but the Word of God of the Old Testament. This "lawyer" asked Jesus "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and yet his motives were not pure. He did not think that he needed Jesus for eternal life, but was merely trying to trap Jesus into saying something that could eventually be used in religious trials when He would eventually be arrested. Notice also that it was a "certain lawyer" that asked the question. No doubt the man was known in the higher religious circles around Jerusalem and he must have been extremely self-confident to approach Jesus "one on one" and try to trap him. So get the picture: this man is one of the top scholars and debaters and most eloquent speakers of the Jewish leadership. And basically he challenges Jesus to answer his questions perfectly.

Jesus turned the question around on the man by asking him what the law said. "How readest thou?" basically means "what do you think that you have to do to inherit eternal life?" Understand that at the time of this story, they were still under the time of law. The Dispensation of Law did not end until Jesus' death. What man had to do to be saved under Law was already clearly spelled out in the Old Testament scripture of which this man was supposed to be an expert. What the man was trying to do was to get Jesus to say something that contradicted the law of Moses and so press Him on those issues. When the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, Jesus did not talk about the law but told him that he must be "born again of the water and of the Spirit" (John 3:1-6). That of course is part of the salvational requirements under the Dispensation of Grace. Unlike this lawyer, Nicodemus was hungry and had every intention of following Jesus and did eventually become a part of the Early Apostolic Church. This lawyer had no desire to live for Jesus in the coming Apostolic Church and so Jesus answered him on his own terms.

To Jesus' question the lawyer quoted part of the "Shema" one of the most sacred texts of the Jewish religion. The Shema is:

To this commandment the lawyer summed up numerous verses of the law concerning treating your neighbor right by saying "and love your neighbor as yourself." The lawyer's answer was a good summation of the law that was used frequently by teachers in that day and one that Jesus agreed with (see Mark 12:28-34). Here, the Lord also agreed:

Jesus neatly avoided any trap by the lawyer and simply said "good answer, do that and you will be saved under law." But the lawyer realizing that he had been easily countered, tried to provoke Jesus with a "nit picking" question: "who is my neighbor?" In other words, the lawyer responded legalistically by saying "define exactly what is expected of me." The lawyer was no doubt nice to other Jews, but he wanted to know exactly where the line was drawn between who he was to treat nice and who he could ignore.

Many people today take a "legalistic" view of the Bible that says "tell me exactly what is the least that I have to do to be saved." They question every commandment and principle of God's Word with "but is that necessary to be saved?" As in, "where in the Bible does it say that I have to come to church to be saved?" Or, "where does it say that you must pay tithes to be saved." Both are principles found in the Word of God that are required to be obedient. But the words of someone with such an attitude proves that they are NOT saved, because they are linking themselves in spirit with this lawyer. What they are really saying is "I want to do the bare minimum that I have to in order to be saved and nothing more for God." What they should have been saying is "What's something else that I can do for God, what is something else that I can learn to serve God better and more fully?!"

People who approach God with the legalistic view as this lawyer are not saved because their very attitude proves that they do not really have a personal relationship with God. The law says "thou shalt not commit adultery" and that is true, but if that is the bare minimum of things that I obey in my relationship with my wife, then I'm not going to have much of a relationship with her. What if I took a legalistic view of marriage and decided to see what the minimum amount of things that were required for my marriage to not be null and void? What if I was faithful to my wife but never gave her flowers, never hugged or kissed her, never remembered her birthday or our anniversary, never bought her anything new, never spent any time with her, never talked to her or responded to her in any way. I wouldn't have much a relationship would I? I'd be married, but I couldn't really say I loved her could I? But because I love her, I am constantly looking for ways to show her that I love her. I praise her when she does things I like. I find out what she enjoys and buy her those things. I take time out of my schedule so that I can spend time with only her and I talk to her every day and respond to her affection. If she doesn't like the way some of my clothes or ties look, then I'll change my dress to match her desires. If she doesn't like a certain type of food, I won't make her eat it. If there is certain people that she doesn't like me hanging around or certain places that she doesn't want me to go, then I change my behavior because I am more than committed to her, I'm in love with her. There's a relationship with her that I want to grow!

How many people treat God like this legalistic lawyer? They want to be saved, but they really have no desire to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, because in order to have a close relationship that means that I must care and even be willing to change any part of my life that He doesn't like! He's perfect and I'm not, therefore if the Word of God even hints at something that He likes or dislikes, if I am truly in a relationship with Him, then I will want to change my life to match those things. Now you see why I boldly stated that people who have a legalistic, "what is the bare minimum that I have to do" attitude toward the things of God are not saved because their actions and very words prove that they are not interested in a close relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you are not in a close relationship with Jesus Christ, then you will never make it to heaven because He is the ONLY way! Only by "following Him" and becoming "as He is" will we be able to make it to eternal life.

Jesus did not back down from this religious legalist, but answered his question of "and who is my lawyer?" with a story, the parable of the Good Samaritan:

We know nothing of this man except that he was not particularly wealthy and that He was coming from Jerusalem. It is probable that He was Jewish since Jesus was addressing a Jewish lawyer with this story. Notice that Jesus said that "a certain man went" which tells us that this is not a fictional story but something that really happened and it is quite possible, since the lawyer didn't argue the validity of the story, that it was a well-known event.

From Jerusalem to Jericho was a little under 20 miles journey and the road that connected the two cities was nicknamed the "way of blood" (Pulpit Commentary) because there were so many robberies and attacks that had happened there. The road winds through mountainous and rocky terrain which gave robbers and thieves an ideal place to hide out and attack and steal and plunder.

In this particular case, this man was attacked by thieves who stole his clothing and then beat him to the point of death and deposited him to the side of the road and left this many dying with nothing left in his possession and so no way to help himself.

The first passerby happened to be a priest returning from his duties in Jerusalem. In those days the priests would work part of the year and then be off the rest. Many priests lived away from Jerusalem and only stayed there in the few months that they were assigned to the temple. Such was the case with John the Baptist's father, Zachrias. When the priest, who was supposed to be the epitome of God’s mercy, saw the helpless man, he quickly walked to the other side of the road so as to pass by as far away from the dying man as possible.

The second passerby was a “Levite.” In other words, he was not one of the head priests that led worship, but was a worker in the temple that helped out with the everyday chores. Perhaps he was one of those who brought the sacrifices to the chief priests, or perhaps he cleaned the ashes from the altar or something like that. Whatever his particular chores, this man was someone also esteemed in Israel as being “a man of God.” This man came and stood over the dying man and looked at him, but then quickly hurried on his way leaving the dying man where he lay.

There is a powerful lesson here about compassion and human nature. As we will see, it was the despised nobody, the Samaritan, who had compassion, and we can see degrees of coldness among the three men that relates to their “social position.” The Samaritan who had no esteem, power, or position from men willingly had empathy, or sympathy that moved him to action. The Levite, who was a little higher up the economic and social order of the day, took time to look at the man and weigh his options but then used some kind of reasoning that stopped him from caring. The priest who was at the top of the social and economic class walked by on the other side of the road and acted as if he had not seen anything. The lesson is this: if we are not careful economic success and “bettering ourselves” will gradually rob us of our compassion. When you are going through something, you are more likely to help someone in need. But when you are “fat with blessing” then it is easier to turn away. Even when we are in good times, we must remember what it was like to be in need and without anywhere to turn! There is danger in viewing yourself a “little better” than the average man because it robs humanity of our compassion and empathy to the basic needs of others.

That Jesus chose a story where the hero was a Samaritan was no accident. The Samaritans were the half-Jewish, half-Gentile race created when the Assyrians had captured Israel hundreds of years before. The Assyrians took out most of the Jewish people from the northern region that they captured and moved in Gentile people from other places who then intermarried with the few Jews remaining in the area and produced the Samaritan people. Because they were considered “half breeds,” the Jews hated the Samaritans and were extremely prejudice towards them. Jews considered Samaritans as dogs and did not consider that God could save or even bless the Samaritan people. The hatred was so intense that to be called a “Samaritan” was a racial slur and was one of the highest insults that could be given. When the Pharisees got mad at Jesus, they once tried to insult him by calling him a “Samaritan.”

This Samaritan was also journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho and when he came upon the dying man, the scriptures say that he “had compassion on him.” The Samaritan then bound up and dressed up the man’s wounds so that he would not bleed to death and poured upon them a mixture of oil and wine which was a common medicinal procedure back then. The oil caused the wounds to close and heal faster, and the wine disinfected them. The Samaritan then set the wounded man upon his own pack animal and walked him to the nearest inn which were situated every few miles along the road. Once there, the Samaritan stayed all night taking care of the stranger and making sure that he did not die. When the Samaritan left the next morning, he left two silver denarii, or two day’s wages with the innkeeper to pay for any expenses of the sick man and told the keeper “if his stay or care costs more, then I will pay it when I return.” What compassion and mercy the Samaritan showed to a complete and total stranger!

Jesus then looked at the lawyer and put the question to him:

In his Jewish prejudice, the lawyer would not allow himself to say “Samaritan” but yet he had to admit that “he that shewed mercy” was the one who was the “true neighbor” of the man who fell among the thieves. Jesus then looked at him and said “go, and do thou likewise.” In other words, “as the Samaritan did, do also and you will have obeyed God’s law.”

This story is not what the lawyer wanted to hear. Probably like most of the Jewish leaders, they had been nice and “neighborly” to their own kind, but when it came to crossing racial barriers and cultural differences, they did not want the scripture to require them to reach out to people that they considered “less than they.” Everyone of us, like it or not has some prejudice that we must fight against in order to fulfill God’s law. Perhaps there is a certain color of people that you have been taught to view as “less than yourself.” Or maybe it’s people worse off than you or of a particular culture that you view as “undesirable.” Whatever the case, and whomever it is that you would rather avoid, we are commanded by God’s Word to be “a neighbor” unto them. The Good Samaritan, as the man in this story is now referred, went beyond economic, social, and race barriers and reached out to someone who was hurting and in need. He did more than just “lip service” but inconvenienced himself with both time and expense to help the wounded man.

The other major lesson of this story is that the priest and Levite were so busy “living for God” that they forgot about compassion and saving the man in need. They had just come from the house of God where they had been “obeying His Word” and yet disobeyed part of it because they were in a hurry to get home and get back to their normal routine. Their actions violated part of God’s law in Deuteronomy 22:1-4, but it also violated the “spirit of God’s Word.” How many people today are like the priest and Levite in this story by using their “religiosity” and “living for God” to excuse and justify their lack of concern about the lost!? We must help the physical needy and hungry and this church makes a major effort to do so each month. But what about the greater need of all men, no matter what their economic situation? “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). All men need a savior. We must be careful so that we do not get so “religious” that we use our “religiosity” as an excuse to turn from the hurting and hurry away!

Even with all of those great lessons in mind, we have still not learned everything that there is to learn from this passage. There is a much deeper meaning hidden within this story. When you begin to look at the symbols found in this parable, you immediately see that the entire plan of God for mankind is found within it’s events.

The city name of “Jerusalem” means “place of peace.” The city name of Jericho means “place of the moon” and was so named because it was once the main place of worship to the idols of the “moon god.” The nameless man, then represents humanity and the descendants of Adam. Man started in Jerusalem “a place of peace” with God, but decided on his own accord to leave and to travel toward “idolatry.” Even when man sinned, God instituted a path in which he could walk, and it started with blood sacrifice. Throughout the Bible and the plan of God we see a “way of blood.” Because of man’s sin, a blood sacrifice had to be continually offered in order to push man’s sin ahead and to avoid the wrath and judgment of God.

But even along the “way of blood” things did not go smoothly for humanity. Along the way the devil and his demons attacked and ensnared and tricked humanity until humanity lay spiritually dying and robbed of every resemblance to the man who had been created in the image of Almighty God and “clothed and robed with honor and power.” The devil stole our power and our victory and we left for dead.

The priest represents the “moral law of God” given to mankind in Genesis and the Levite represents the ceremonial or “sacrificial” law of Moses. Everything that God commanded man to do in Genesis and all of the sacrificial and statutes of Moses only pointed out the sin in man’s life. They told man that he was a sinner and that he was hurting and that he was helpless but not one of them did anything to pay the price for sin because only the sinless sacrifice of the Lamb of God could take away sin. To simply put it, the law of Moses and earlier simply looked at humanity in it’s horrible condition and passed them by without really offering any hope or any true help.

But thankfully, the story did not stop there! A man came along that was different than all of the others! He was not a mixture of humanity with humanity but a mixture of humanity and God! He was Jesus Christ: God in flesh! He was Emmanuel, God with us! And unlike the sacrificial animals and laws of the past, Jesus Christ stopped and cared for humanity. Jesus stepped from the throne of peace in heaven and willingly chose to walk the pathway of humanity! And He did not pass by and forget our need, but instead He paid the price and bore us on Calvary! That’s why Jesus said:

True, His Word often points out our flaws and the areas that we need to change, but Jesus is not like the law. He did not just come to point out your sins and failures and then walk by, but after pointing out the wounds, He takes the time and has the power to bind them up and bring healing! Jesus truly is the Good Samaritan! He truly is a “neighbor” to those who are lost and dying on the road of life!

Look what the Good Samaritan does for the lost and dying on the road of life:

1. He binds up the wounds - He forgives our sins that were causing our spiritual death and washes them away in baptism. He takes broken lives and puts them back together!

2. He pours in the oil - He brings healing through His anointing power. Throughout scripture, oil is closely associated with God’s anointing and healing power (see Psalms 133; James 5:14 for some of many examples) We serve a God that not only heals sicknesses and physical diseases, but who can heal marriages and relationships. Who can restore and heal those who have been ravaged by the hurts and pains of life. Jesus can take a life that appears hopeless and worthless and turn it into a vessel of honor. If you are having trouble seeing a future, He can restore that sight and ability to dream again! If you have stumbled and are “lame” with ability to walk in this world on your on, He can restore that strength that you need to make to where you want to go! If people have hurt you so badly that you do not think that you can listen or trust anyone, Jesus Christ can heal that part of you, too! Whatever is sick, Jesus can restore because when He finds you and allow Him to work in your life, He pours in the oil!

3. He pours in the wine - Not only does the Good Samaritan heal past wounds, but He brings new life through the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Throughout scripture the Holy Ghost is represented by water and also by “wine.” Paul said:

There is no high like the Holy Ghost! There is no courage builder and cleanser like God’s Spirit! God doesn’t just work on past hurts, but gives us His miracle working power, the “wine of the Holy Ghost” to help us through every day living. That’s the why the scriptures say:

The Holy Ghost brings healing and power to live beyond your past condition!

4. He uses His own power to get you to an inn and innkeeper - Jesus does not leave you the road to fend for yourself and to have to be in constant danger of the robbers again, but brings you to a church and gives you a pastor to pray and fast and feed and care for you. He gives you somebody that will fight with you against the traps and attacks of Satan! And whatever you need spiritually while you are in the church, Jesus Christ has already paid for. And if your bill in this life should be so high as to require more of God’s mercy and love and strength, then there is plenty of sustenance where the first came from! And Jesus has promised to come back again for us!

Jesus Christ is the Good Samaritan that takes time for the dying soul on life’s highway! Thank God for His saving power and compassion! Now we must return that favor by reaching others just as He helped us! We must bring others and introduce them to this Good Samaritan named Jesus!