Teaching
The Good Samaritan
Who is my neighbor?
A Samaritan helps a beaten man whom a priest and a Levite ignored, Jesus redefines “neighbor” as the one who loves in practice.
The story
A man is robbed and left half dead. A priest and a Levite, the religious elite, pass by on the other side. A Samaritan, an ethnic enemy of the Jews, stops, tends his wounds and pays for his lodging.
The meaning
Jesus answers the question “And who is my neighbor?” by turning it around: my neighbor is not the one I choose to help, but the one who becomes a neighbor through mercy, even an “enemy.”
Application
Loving your neighbor is not a feeling; it is action that costs time and money. And the model is precisely the one society despises.
Did you know?
- Samaritans and Jews hated each other; the hero of the story was the “enemy.” John 4:9
Where to read in the Bible
- Luke 10:25–37
Connections
- taught by Jesus of Nazareth · stated in the text · Luke 10:25
- central figure of The Samaritans · stated in the text · Luke 10:33
- theme of Love · editorial reading · Luke 10:27