Parable of the Good Samaritan
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The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a famous New Testament parable appearing only in the Gospel of Luke.[1] The majority view indicates this parable is told by Jesus in order to illustrate that compassion should be for all people, and that fulfilling the spirit of the Law is just as important as fulfilling the letter of the Law. Jesus puts the definition of neighbor into an enlarged context, beyond what people usually thought of as a neighbor. [2] See the minority view also.
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[edit] The parable
The parable is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10 verses 25-37.
One day Jesus was teaching to a crowd, one person in the crowd asked him how he could gain eternal life. Jesus told this story; There was a Jew, travelling from a town to another town. He was beaten up by robbers. They took all his stuff. Two people came by but didn't help him. The 3rd, a Samaritan, the Jews enemys, came and saved him and healed him.
[edit] Historical context and modern recasting
It is important to note that Samaritans were despised by the story's target audience, the Jews. The Samaritans were also largely taught by their interpretation of history to hate Jews.[2] Thus the parable, as told originally, had a significant theme of non-discrimination and interracial harmony. But as the story reached those who were unaware of the status of Samaritans, this aspect of the parable became less and less discernible: fewer and fewer people ever heard of them in any context other than this one. To address this problem with the unfamiliar analogy, the story is often recast in a more recognizable modern setting where the people are ones in equivalent social groups known to not interact comfortably. For instance instead of a Jew being helped by a Samaritan one could place a Palestinian in that role, or even a member of Hezbollah aided by an orthodox Jew. One could also have a racist helped by a member of another race, a sexist man helped by a woman, or a devoutly religious person helped by an atheist, or any reverse or combination thereof. The message's essential point is that humanity's bonds in brotherhood transcend social and cognitive segmentations which we adopt in our lives.
Thus cast appropriately, the parable regains its socially explosive message to modern listeners: namely, that an individual of a social group they disapprove of can exhibit moral behaviour that is superior to individuals of the groups they approve; it also means that not sharing the same faith is no excuse to behave poorly, as there is a universal moral law. Many Christians have used it as an example of Christianity against racial prejudice. [3][4][5]
The Jewish Encyclopedia suggests that the parable was changed:[citation needed]
One of these parables deserves special mention here, as it has obviously been changed, for dogmatic reasons, so as to have an anti-Jewish application. There is little doubt that J. Halevy is right ("R. E. J." iv. 249-255) in suggesting that in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke x. 17-37) the original contrast was between the priest, the Levite, and the ordinary Israelite—representing the three great classes into which Jews then and now were and are divided. The point of the parable is against the sacerdotal class, whose members indeed brought about the death of Jesus. Later, "Israelite" or "Jew" was changed into "Samaritan," which introduces an element of inconsistency, since no Samaritan would have been found on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem (ib. 30).
However, it can alternatively be argued that Jesus was simply making a moral point by introducing the third character as a Samaritan rather than an Israelite.
[edit] Theological analysis
While this parable is known for its social implications in our modern world, it also presents a very important contextual spiritual message. During his ministry Jesus was often accused of associating with the publicans and sinners by the Scribes and Pharisees (Luke 5:30). In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus reaffirms his reasons for doing so, which are also reported in Luke 5:31-32. The stricken figure in the parable represents all those who are spiritually sick, such as the gentiles and the sinners. That it was a priest and then a Levite who first passed by is significant beyond the irony of the situation: people who were expected to help, didn't, while someone whom the victim (and Jesus' audience) despised, did. The priest may have had an 'excuse' not to help since touching a dying or badly wounded person for someone so 'holy', while not forbidden, would be, in our modern vernacular, distasteful due to all the necessary cleansing rituals prescribed by Mosaic Law. The priest therefore decided that being ritually clean and "priestly" was more important than saving someone else's life. Jesus' unspoken challenge to all seems to be: would we help only if it's convenient, or are we willing to go out of our way to show compassion to a stranger?
[edit] Minority View
According to the minority view, understanding this parable requires recognizing the importance of the Lawyer's perspective. He began to test Jesus in Luke 10:25. His particular goal of questioning was to determine what he might do himself to obtain eternal life. Jesus answers with the tall, unreachable standard of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind as well as loving your neighbor as yourself. He says do this and you will live, that is, you will have eternal life. Now the key comes in Luke 10:29 where it is revealed that the lawyer wanted to justify himself. In other words, he wanted to be able to claim he had accomplished what was required by the standard Jesus cited. He wanted to feel like he was good enough to qualify for eternal life. In order to do this, this man wanted a definition of neighbor that was not too challenging for him to say that he loved that person. Now, in presenting the Parable, Jesus provides an answer that is intended to set the standard high. The one you should consider your neighbor is the person you believe is the most undesirable. You have to love that person as yourself if you want to qualify yourself for eternal life. The point of Jesus' statements was to drive this lawyer to despair of his own efforts to qualify for eternal life. This conclusion is applied to all people. None can be that good or meet God's standard. Instead, the good news points us to another source for our righteousness and goodness that qualifies us for eternal life once we give up on finding it in ourselves.[citation needed] See also: Divine grace.
[edit] Allegory of the Fall and the Redemption
According to John Welch:[6]
"This parable’s content is clearly practical and dramatic in its obvious meaning, but a time-honored Christian tradition also saw the parable as an impressive allegory of the Fall and Redemption of mankind. This early Christian understanding of the good Samaritan is depicted in a famous eleventh-century cathedral in Chartres, France. One of its beautiful stained-glass windows portrays the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden at the top of the window, and, in parallel, the parable of the good Samaritan at the bottom. This illustrates “a symbolic interpretation of Christ’s parable that was popular in the Middle Ages.”[7] ... The roots of this allegorical interpretation reach deep into early Christianity. In the second century A.D., Irenaeus in France and Clement of Alexandria both saw the good Samaritan as symbolizing Christ Himself saving the fallen victim, wounded with sin. A few years later, Clement’s pupil Origen stated that this interpretation came down to him from earlier Christians, who had described the allegory as follows:
The man who was going down is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord’s body, the [inn], which accepts all who wish to enter, is the Church. … The manager of the [inn] is the head of the Church, to whom its care has been entrusted. And the fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior’s second coming.[8]
"This allegorical reading was taught not only by ancient followers of Jesus, but it was virtually universal throughout early Christianity, being advocated by Irenaeus, Clement, and Origen, and in the fourth and fifth centuries by Chrysostom in Constantinople, Ambrose in Milan, and Augustine in North Africa. This interpretation is found most completely in two other medieval stained-glass windows, in the French cathedrals at Bourges and Sens."
[edit] Influences on social psychology
As well as being of interest to theologians and Bible scholars, the parable has also caught the interest of researchers in social psychology. For more on this topic, see the article on Daniel Batson.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Luke 10:25-37
- ^ a b Kilgallen 122
- ^ The Good Samaritan In African American Culture by Brad Ronnell Braxton
- ^ Christianity and Equality
- ^ Christian Teachings on Racial Harmony
- ^ http://byustudies.byu.edu/Shop/PDFSRC/38.2Welch.pdf
- ^ Malcolm Miller, Chartres Cathedral (1985), 68.
- ^ Origen, Homily 34.3, Joseph T. Lienhard, trans., Origen: Homilies on Luke, Fragments on Luke (1996), 138.
[edit] See also
- Ethic of reciprocity
- Samaritanism
- Bystander intervention
- Good Samaritan Law
- Seinfeld series finale (1998)
- Expounding of the Law
[edit] References
- Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament Doubleday 1997 ISBN 0-385-24767-2
- Brown, Raymond E. et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary Prentice Hall 1990 ISBN 0-13-614934-0
- Kilgallen, John J. A Brief Commentary on the Gospel of Luke Paulist Press 1988 ISBN 0-8091-2928-0
- Miller, Robert J. The Complete Gospels Polebridge Press 1994 ISBN 0-06-065587-9
- Welch, John W. The Good Samaritan: The Forgotten Symbols. Ensign, February 2007. p.40-47.
- Welch, John W. The Good Samaritan: A Type and Shadow of the Plan of Salvation. Brigham Young University Studies, spring 1999, 51–115.
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