The Good Samaritan

I’ve known this parable of Jesus for a while, but what I discovered through a second read of the passage and reviewing The Broadman Bible Commentary is that there was confusion about the idea of who is your neighbor. According to the Broadman Bible Commentary, at the time, the question of who is my neighbor was a “legitimate question in contemporary theological discussions (Dean). Also, apparently Pharisees would often limit the definition of the word neighbor to include only fellow Jews and even exclude tax collectors and sinners. Jesus implied that any fellow man could be a neighbor since He did not specify the assaulted man’s race or nationality. Furthermore, he uses the example of a Samaritan, a race that his hearers felt very prejudiced towards. So, not only was Jesus undermining the power and authority of the Pharisees by subverting their definition of what a neighbor is but he was also directly going against the bigoted minds of his hearers. I personally enjoy and find that the way Jesus thinks about the world resonates with me the most as opposed to how the Jews felt about the law. Through his parable, Jesus shows how we should exhibit the love of God to any and all kinds of people.

Also, there are good reasons why people passed him by. For instance, the priest could have helped the man, but the situation is very complicated for him since he is in high religious authority. If he touches the man’s body and he turns out to be dead, he can become defiled (Lev. 21:1) (Dean). Also, a Levite is one of the helpers in the Temple, and helpers are typically compelled to follow the priests’ example (Dean).

Works Cited.

Dean, Robert James. Luke. Broadman Press, 1983.