<\/p>\n The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the best-known and best-loved of Jesus\u2019 parables. For many it has become the story of the archetypal good guy who unselfishly helps a stricken stranger. What is more, he does so at great personal expense and inconvenience and without the prospect of getting anything in return. To be sure the above portrayal is there, but the story is much more than that. In fact, beneath the story is a paradigm of how God wants those in His kingdom to affect their world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A Lawyer\u2019s Bold Question<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lawyer\u2019s Astute Answer, But Hidden Motive vv. 27-29<\/strong><\/p>\n Without hesitation (I imagine), the lawyer quotes two verses that summarize the heart of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments: \u201c\u2019You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind\u2019 [Deut. 6:5]; and, \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself\u2019\u201d [Lev. 19:17]. His answer actually distills Israel\u2019s covenantal responsibility to two all-encompassing principles of the Torah, i.e., to love God supremely and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus can hardly find fault with this answer. After all, on another occasion, the Pharisees asked Jesus to identify the greatest commandment in the Law, and he answered with the same two scriptures adding, \u201cAll the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments\u201d (See Matt. 22: 37-40). Consequently, Jesus affirms the correctness of his answer and says, \u201cDo this and you will live.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a> Nevertheless, the answer raises the fundamental dilemma for a Jew. Under the Law, the covenant responsibility of loving God is inseparable from loving ones neighbor as oneself. Jewish teachers tended to identify \u201cneighbor\u201d with \u201cfellow countryman\u201d (i.e., Israelite).5<\/sup><\/a> However, the broader context of Moses\u2019 instruction was given to all the congregation of Israel (Lev. 19:2) and dealt with how they were to conduct themselves as a \u201choly\u201d people. This included how they were to treat the \u201cstranger\u201d (v. 10) in the land. The lawyer\u2019s question, \u201cWho is my neighbor?\u201d is really asking, \u201cTo whom do I owe that covenantal love Moses spoke about?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 Parabolic Answer<\/strong><\/p>\n Rather than answer the question directly, Jesus tells a parable that expounds God\u2019s love. One obvious and inescapable truth is that there is no love of God without the love of one\u2019s neighbor.6<\/sup><\/a> Nevertheless, Jesus advances to challenge the lawyer\u2019s application of that principle: The circle of God\u2019s love encompasses not just Israel, but the alien and stranger (Cf. Lev. 19:9,10). To do this he tells a story\/parable that is both believable and incredible. It is believable because the event was common in that day; incredible because of the actions and roles of the main characters. Through the parable, Jesus answers the lawyer\u2019s question and a more fundamental one: \u201cWhat does God\u2019s love of neighbor look like?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n God\u2019s Love Is Impartial and Without Prejudice<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n God\u2019s Love Has Compassion<\/strong><\/p>\n The Samaritan shows the covenantal love and compassion of Yahweh<\/em> to his neighbor. He acts spontaneously, without regard to social or religious prejudice, out of pity for a fellow human being in need. Jesus thus paints a picture of the true lover of God who has God\u2019s merciful heart toward the victims of sin in this world. He reveals a loving heart of someone who stands in solidarity with hurting humanity and has the capacity to feel their pain.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n God\u2019s Love Shows Mercy<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n God\u2019s Love Practices Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Parabolic Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n How does this parable instruct the church in becoming a transformational agent in society? The answer surely is coming into focus. In verse 36, Jesus inverts the question. It is not<\/em> \u201cWho is the neighbor I ought to love,\u201d but<\/em> \u201cWho showed the love of God and demonstrated he was a neighbor to the stricken Jew?\u201d From the parable, the character of God\u2019s love is clear. It requires a compassionate heart, active benevolent action or intervention and sacrificial involvement. This kind of love is expressed by God\u2019s covenant people toward all those who fall victim to sin in all forms of injustice, exploitation and oppression. It is due to all those in need of mercy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PR<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Given the challenges and opposition Jesus faces from the religious leaders in Luke\u2019s Gospel up to this point, it also possible that the question was offered in an attempt to expose some unorthodox teaching that could be condemned. See 4:28-30; 5:21, 30:6:2, 7-10; 7:29-30, 36-39; and especially all of chapter 11.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. All biblical citations are from the New International Version (NIV).<\/p>\n 3. See Craig S. Keener\u2019s remarks in IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament<\/em>. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 217.<\/p>\n 4. Jesus words are reminiscent of Lev. 18:5 which promises life to those who keep the Law. But the life promised in the Torah was a reference to a long life in the land of their inheritance. Later Jewish interpretation expanded this promise to eternal life, which is the same application made by Jesus here. See Keener, Bible Background<\/em>, p. 217.<\/p>\n 5. Ibid.<\/p>\n 6. The New Testament expansion of this principle can be found in 1 Jn 4:19-21, \u201cWe love, because He first loved us. If someone says, \u201cI love God,\u201d and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.\u201d<\/p>\n 7. An example is provided for us by Josephus who relates an incident under the procurator Coponius (AD 6-9). He relates how the Samaritans sneaked into the temple precincts on the eve of the Passover and scattered the bones and ashes of the dead in the outer courts. See Josephus, Antiquities<\/em>, 18.2.2.<\/p>\n 8. Burton L. Goodard, \u201cJustice,\u201d in the Baker\u2019 Dictionary of Theology<\/em>, ed. E. F. Harrison (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1960), p.309<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/wiki-GoodSamaritan-Romary.jpg\")