Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, and this is so important for us today as we see so much hatred and vituperation in today’s society–especially on Facebook!
Verses 25-29 are the background that leads into the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” It starts with a “lawyer,” a person highly educated in the Old Testament laws, who was “testing” Jesus, that is, he was looking for Jesus to make some mistake so he could entrap the Lord.
Jesus gives the answer with the concept that eternal life is based on deeds, not words, that is, how does God’s Word play out in one’s life. But the lawyer wants to further define the idea of “neighbor,” which leads Jesus into the parable. The question about “who is my neighbor” is an attempt to limit one’s responsibility to a select few, but Jesus turns this into a broader concept and into an active part of one’s life.
The man who was robbed was an innocent traveler, a fellow Jew. The two religious persons act contrary to love, although they acted as to what most would expect. They were traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a distance of about 17 miles through a rugged, rocky terrain that was famous for robbers.
The priest apparently had been to Jerusalem for his period of service in the Temple by offering sacrifices and prayers. He demonstrated a lack of mercy. Then a Levite passed by the victim. Priests were from this tribe of the Jews, but he was apparently not a priest, but would be expected to have more religious training than the average Jewish person. He also demonstrates a lack of love and mercy. We are not told why the priest and Levite refused to help this fellow Jew, but the point of the story seems to that they didn’t care and were more worried about their own safety.
Finally a Samaritan (those people the Jews disliked immensely) came by. This man “took pity” on the victim, which stands in contrast to the priest and Levite. The Samaritan’s pity is demonstrated by his sacrificial actions by taking care of the victim and even took him into town, probably on into Jericho, where he left him at an “inn.” Now there were no Holiday Inns, or other motels, at that time. The Greek word refers to a “caravansary,” or a place that many towns had that was ...