A Year in Luke/ActsSample

The story of the Good Samaritan is one that a lot of people are familiar with, but set within Luke’s wider gospel its message stands out even more.

An “expert in the law” asks Jesus what he must do to attain salvation. Since he’s an expert, Jesus asks him the same question. He replies with the right answer: essentially to love God and love people. However, the man then asks a follow-up question: who is my neighbor? This question gives us insight into what Jesus is doing by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Samaritans were not liked by the Jews, they were seen as second-class citizens. It is important to notice that the outsider, a second-class citizen, is the savior in the story. The beaten man represents the man who asked the question. Jesus ends the story asking which of the three who passed the beaten man on the road was a neighbor to him, as the man had asked “Who is my neighbor?” So not only is a Samaritan portrayed as a good neighbor, but the expert in the law is pictured as beaten by the side of the road.

We will continue looking at this for the next couple of days.