The Good Samaritan

The story of the Good Samaritan is probably one of the most well known stories in the Bible however, most people don’t know the full story as found in Luke 10:25-37. Jesus actually tells the story of the Good Samaritan after a lawyer tried to test him on the issue of salvation. The lawyers referred to in the New Testament (mostly by Luke) are scholars who were experts in the Jewish law as written by Moses. Jewish citizens of that day lived under two laws, the laws of God and the laws of the Roman government. The lawyer that Luke is referring too was a scribe, or sage called upon to give council on legal matters that fall outside the Roman courts. That is why Pilot had no interest in sentencing Jesus (Luke 23:4). Pilot’s concern was the Roman law, he had no interest in judging those accused of violating the Law of Moses.

I will tell the story of The Good Samaritan in my own words.

One day as Jesus and His disciple chums were strolling along a lawyer pulls up beside them, in his BMW, and tries to test Jesus with a question. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus looked at the dude and said, “You are a lawyer, how do you interpret the law? The lawyer dude said, “You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, and with all of your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “That pretty much sums it up. Do this and God will punch your ticket.

Then Jesus turns and starts to walk down the road, but the lawyer dude stops Him with another question. You see the lawyer was fine with the part about loving God and all that, but he didn’t care much for the part about loving his neighbor. Especially when the neighbor was a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys. So the lawyer dude tries to clarify this and says to Jesus, “Well just who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus tells everybody to sit down so He can tell them a story.

“One day this guy was going down the road on his way to Jericho when some robbers attacked him, took his money, beat him and left him for dead. As it happened a priest was going by that way and passed by on the other side of the road. Shortly after a Levite (they assist the priest) came upon the man and passed by the same way the priest did.”

“Next a Samaritan comes by he sees the wounded guy and feels compassion for him. The Samaritan bandages the man’s wounds and pours expensive oil on them to help them heal. Then he puts the guy on his own donkey and lets him ride while the Samaritan walks beside them both. The Samaritan takes the wounded man to an inn and pays for his care while he continues on his journey.” Then Jesus says to the lawyer, “Which one of the three acted neighborly to the man who was robbed?” The Lawyer dude said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” Then Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

The story is interesting on several levels because it reveals God’s mind when it comes to the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Jesus asked the lawyer what the letter of the law stated and the lawyer answered correctly. Matthew 19:16-22 tells a similar story where a rich man comes to Jesus with the same question about entering eternal life. Jesus gives the rich man the same answer as he did the lawyer. Obey the law and love your neighbor. Jesus told the rich man to sell everything and give it to the poor (his neighbor) and come and follow Jesus.

Jesus is telling both men that God is requiring two tasks be completed while we are on this planet. One is to obey God’s law and the other is to show kindness to God’s children. Both men appeared to have no issue with the first requirement, but faltered when it came to the second requirement. The book of James points out the need for compassion and James goes so far as to say, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) The “works” that James is referring too is the action of each man that Jesus was referring to. For the lawyer, the action was showing compassion to the injured man on the road. For the rich man the action was giving his money to the poor.

Faith and actions go hand in hand; one cannot exist without the other.