Our modern world still uses the term, "Good Samaritan" regularly, but have we missed Jesus intended purpose of the parable?

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho:
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- Descending 3,300 feet in just 17 miles
- Very rugged desert and wilderness terrain
- Notoriously dangerous with robbers

Priests: Responsible for the worship and sacrifices at the Temple.

Levites: Assisted the priests in Temple duties, including providing music and maintaining security.

Possible reasons they pass by:
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- Self-protection
- Off the Clock
- In a hurry
- Inconvenience of Defilement

Why a Priest & a Levite?
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To show us that religion can often get in the way of demonstrating God’s compassion for people.

Samaria:
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- Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC.
- Some Jews were dispersed.
- Samaria colonized with different nationalities
- Intermarrying occurred
- Pagan practices added alongside Yahweh worship

800 years of hate:
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- Samaritans would lay waste to Jewish land and carrying some off as slaves.
- Jews effaced a Samaritan city entirely and dug beneath it so that it toppled in the river.
- Samaritans desecrated the Jerusalem Temple by scattering bones in it during Passover.
- Samaritans slew several Jews traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem for festival.
- A Jewish vigilante group burned and sacked Samaritan villages.
- Conflict brought before Emperor Claudius in Rome for a ruling.
- Jews change custom of using signal fires because Samaritans lit fires to confuse them.
- Rabbi ‘He that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like to one that eats the flesh of swine.”
- Jew is not liable to the death penalty for killing a Samaritan.
- Jesus once accused of being a Samaritan and demon possessed.

Expected the sequence Priest, Levite, than a common Israelite. Huge shock waves would have surged through Jesus’ audience when they recognized that the Samaritan was the hero.

The Samaritan then risks his life by transporting the wounded man to an inn within Jewish territory.

Any lodger who could not pay his bill risked being sold as a slave by the innkeepers.

Ethical Application:
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- Bible is more an identity book than a guidebook; it tells what Christian character is, not what actions must be done in every case.
- “Who is my neighbor?” ought not to be asked…No human can be a non-neighbor!
- Jesus transforms thinking from “who is my neighbor” to “how can I be a good neighbor.”
- Is ever appropriate to draw a line? How far does love of neighbor reach?
- Love, does not allow limits on the definition of neighbor, and is not a generalized unhelpful “everyone”, but whomever is in your path that needs the love of Christ.

(Destin’s) way to love your neighbor as yourself:
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- See with compassion: You are worth acknowledging.
- Accept the inconvenience: You are worth the time.
- Eat the cost: You’re worth the money.
- Check back in: You are worth following up with.

Reflective Prayer:
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- Who’s hurting and you have overlooked?
- Who do you despise and are you purposefully ignoring?
- Who has an inconvenient amount of need that you have been unwilling to help?
- Who have you been rushing by, because your too busy or in a hurry doing good things?

Ultimate Purpose:
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- It is far too simplistic to say that Jesus’ main point is about showing kindness to strangers. Rather, He told this story to illustrate how far we all fall short of what God’s law actually demands.

- Jesus didn’t tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan so we would help people in need. He told the parable to smash our attempts of self-justification.

- Purpose isn’t not just to be a good neighbor - you can never be a good enough neighbor.

- The point of the parable isn’t just go love your neighbor - the point of the parable is that none of us have or can of love our neighbors the way God intends, we fall short of his standard, cannot justify/save ourselves and we need a savior.

- The parable points to our need for Jesus and His love for us.