The Good Samaritan

 As I listened to my different Come Follow Me podcasts this week I was struck by how many kinds of interpretations there are of the Good Samaritan parable from Luke 10:25-37. If I were teaching a Sunday School class right now, I might talk about the different ways of interpreting this parable. Here are some of them.

1. The simple interpretation:  The simplest interpretation is the one we learned in primary (or junior Sunday school).  The lawyer asks Jesus "who is my neighbor" and by telling the parable, Jesus is answering that question.  The lawyer gets it, so that when Jesus asks, "Which of these three...was neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?" he answered, "He that shewed mercy on him."  That's it.  Your "neighbor" is anyone you come across who needs help. 

2. The cultural interpretation: This is the interpretation that emphasizes that cultural difference and expectations between the groups in the story.  The people who ignore that man who is injured are Jewish religious leaders who should have had a stronger moral obligation to help someone in need, the priest and the Levite. They did not stop to help because of either indifference or fear that by helping the man they might become ritualistically unclean preventing them from performing their ecclesiastical duties. The man who helps the injured person is from a group shunned by Jesus' audience. In this interpretation, Jesus is condemning the religious leadership of the Jews of his day and teaching the lawyer to be more inclusive in his charity and less concerned with religious convention.

3. The metaphorical interpretation, the plan of salvation: In this interpretation all of us are the man who fell among thieves.  Jerusalem represents the pre-earth life, and Jericho represents earth life.  When we come from pre-earth life we encounter sin for the first time and it leaves us abused and near spiritual death. The law of Moses, represented by the Priest and the Levite, has no power to save us, but Jesus, represented by the Samaritan, comes and heals us with his oil (representing his Messiahship) and with wine (representing the atonement).  He  brings us to the inn, representing the true church, where we can stay and heal knowing that the Lord will return again and settle all debts. Greg Halverson of the Unshaken podcast attributed this interpretation to Origen, an early Catholic Father.

I think the third interpretation is intriguing, but I think the first and second are most powerful.  We can , at separate times in our lives, see ourselves in each of the roles in the story.  Sometimes we are the man who is attacked by thieves and find ourselves battered and unable to help ourselves.  Sometimes we are the thieves that leave others near spiritual death by a thoughtless word or act.  Sometimes we are the self-righteous ones who pass by those in need and sometimes we are the good Samaritan who stops to help. Sometimes we are the innkeeper, charged with caring for the more long-term needs of those the Lord has rescued from death with faith that we will eventually be repaid for our efforts. This is one of my favorites of the parables, and one that always causes me self-reflection.