Jesus tells this parable in answer to a specific question, “who is my neighbour,” asked by an expert in the law trying to justify the limits of his own obligation. A man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by robbers, stripped, beaten, and left half dead on the road. Three people encounter him in succession, and only the third one stops.
He is the one the original audience would have least expected to.
The Two Who Passed Had the Most Obvious Reason to Help
“A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite… passed by on the other side.” Both men held religious roles that would have made compassion for a suffering stranger seem like exactly the kind of thing their position required, and both chose the far side of the road instead.
Jesus Chose the Least Likely Person on Purpose
A Samaritan and a Jewish audience shared centuries of mutual hostility, which is precisely why Jesus makes the hero of the story a Samaritan rather than a fellow Jew. The answer to “who is my neighbour” could not come from someone the original audience would have found easy to admire.
His Compassion Turned Into Specific, Costly Action
“He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.” The Samaritan’s response is not a moment of pity that fades once he keeps moving. It costs him his own supplies, his own transportation, and his own time at the inn.
He Paid for a Recovery He Would Never Personally Oversee
“He took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'” The Samaritan does not simply drop the man off. He arranges and funds ongoing care, and commits to covering whatever costs come up later, for a stranger he has no ongoing relationship with.
“‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.'”
Luke 10:36-37
The two men most likely to help walked past. The neighbour turned out to be the one person nobody expected to stop.
