Rev’d Peter Balabanski
Pentecost + 5C – Lk 10 25-37
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is probably the most widely known Bible story of all – both in the Church and in the secular community. In the news, people who stop to help a stranger in need are still called ‘Good Samaritans’. And if the only message we carry from this story is that we should do likewise, that’s absolutely worthwhile. But there’s a lot in this parable that we can easily miss about who people help. As ever, context is really important to seeing its deeper message.
The overarching context for this parable is that it comes soon after the major turning point in Luke’s Gospel – 9.51 When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Jesus is now embarked on his terrifying journey. And that’s also true for the poor traveller to Jericho – also stripped, beaten, and left for dead, like Jesus would be. So who is the traveller in this parable?
Another important context is revealed as Jesus sets out on his journey. 9.52 He sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. Samaritans and Orthodox Jews had a standing feud about where you should worship God. Samaritans worshipped God at their Mt Gerizim temple, while Orthodox Jews did so at Jerusalem. That’s why the Samaritan village rejected him; because he was heading to Jerusalem. And that’s why his disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven to punish them for it. In this context, Jesus chooses a Samaritan to be the unlikely compassionate stranger in his parable.
So does Jesus the traveller see himself in the hapless traveller of this parable? I heard this idea in a sermon about 50 years ago, and it electrified me then. But now that I’ve finally noticed what I missed for so long – that Jesus was himself consciously on the road to his own death – its shock is even more forceful.
On the Way, Jesus saw the tribal hatred between his deeply loved children – Orthodox Jews and Samaritans. It’s some of the most corrosive hatred you can experience. And in the midst of all this, he’s challenged with a cynical legal question about who is, and who’s not a neighbour. Jesus responded with his healing story about kindness that still bridges divides; still stuns the world with its power.
It makes me think of the scene in Matt 25 where Jesus portrays the last judgement. There, people are welcomed into the Kingdom for the kindnesses they’ve offered to people in need. 35 I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. … 40 Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Mt 25.35-36, 40 The naked traveller beaten half to death in today’s parable adds a whole new dimension to Jesus’ teaching that what we do for others, we do for him. Every person bears the image of God. If it’s disfigured in anyone, our care to restore that image is care received by God.
One detail of the care shown in this parable is particularly striking. The Samaritan pours oil and wine on the injured traveller’s wounds. Priests and Levites poured oil and wine as libations on the altar at the Temple at Jerusalem. This detail highlights the Samaritan’s care as an offering acceptable to God. And it also asserts the divine image in the person receiving this offering. In John’s Gospel 2.19-21, when Jesus said ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up … we read that … he was speaking of the temple of his body. In this parable, I see Jesus clearly identifying the injured traveller’s body with his own body. The Samaritan poured oil and wine on the man’s wounds like priests and Levites poured them on the altar in the Temple. ‘It is the hated Samaritan …who pours out the true offering acceptable to God’ (Bailey, TPE p50).
Jesus didn’t put a Priest and a Levite in his parable because they were bad people, but because they were the best. If they were bad people, the story would lose its force. They’re actually just like us. We also have good reasons to pass by on the other side – urgent duties that won’t permit delay. If we’re alone, we’re also frightened of stopping on a lonely road to help a stranger who’s been attacked. The same thing could happen to us! We also get overwhelmed with the logistics of helping needy people; where does it ever stop? These are real concerns. But the parable says these real concerns must not be allowed to become our guide-book; acceptable excuses for doing nothing. We know too well what happens then!
The beaten up traveller of this parable turns out to be the one ‘with the keys to the Kingdom’. Jesus asks the lawyer, ‘Who was neighbour to the half-dead traveller?’ The lawyer concedes that the outsider – the despised Samaritan – was the one who showed mercy. Jesus tells the lawyer, Go and do likewise – be someone without prejudice; be a neighbour to someone you’d normally have nothing to do with. Be brave enough to risk compassion. … We are truly challenged here – like the Church always has been. Can we go and do likewise – do what the Samaritan did? There should be nothing to fear, because there, in the wounds of the one we serve, we will meet our Lord. But will we go there? Will we go there? Amen.