The Good Samaritan
Overview
- Testament: New
- Primary Text: Luke 10:25-37
- Type: Parable / teaching
- Summary: Jesus answers a lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” by telling of a Samaritan who shows costly mercy to a wounded man after respected religious figures pass by.
Details
The parable begins with a lawyer testing Jesus about inheriting eternal life. Jesus turns him back to the law, and the lawyer summarizes the commandments as love for God and love for neighbor. When the lawyer seeks to justify himself by asking, “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus answers with a story that shifts the question from defining limits to practicing mercy.
A man travels from Jerusalem to Jericho, is attacked by thieves, stripped, beaten, and left half dead. A priest and a Levite both see him and pass by on the other side. Their reasons are not explained, which keeps the focus on their failure to love the neighbor in front of them.
Then a Samaritan comes near. In Jewish-Samaritan hostility, the Samaritan would have been the unexpected figure in the story, yet he is the one moved with compassion. He binds the wounds, pours in oil and wine, places the man on his own beast, brings him to an inn, cares for him, pays the host, and promises to cover further cost.
Jesus then asks which of the three proved neighbor to the wounded man. The lawyer answers, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus concludes, “Go, and do thou likewise.” The parable does not merely expand the category of neighbor; it reorients the listener toward becoming a neighbor through mercy.
Key People Involved
- Jesus Christ - Teacher who tells the parable
- Lawyer - Questioner who seeks to test and justify himself
- Samaritan - Outsider figure who embodies mercy
- Priest and Levite - Religious figures who fail to act compassionately
Key Places
- Road from Jerusalem to Jericho - Dangerous travel setting of the parable
- Samaria - Background for the shock of the Samaritan as hero
Important Verses
- Luke 10:27 - Love God and love neighbor
- Luke 10:29 - Who is my neighbor?
- Luke 10:33 - The Samaritan has compassion
- Luke 10:36-37 - The true neighbor is the one who shows mercy
Cross-References
Notes
- The parable exposes the danger of using theology to narrow obligation.
- The Samaritan’s mercy is costly, practical, embodied, and ongoing.
- Jesus changes the question from “Who counts as my neighbor?” to “How do I become a neighbor?”
- The story presses love of neighbor beyond ethnic, religious, and social boundaries.