Bible Discussion Thread

The story of the Good Samaritan is a parable told within a �three part� parable in the Gospel of Luke 10:30-35. The parable is also broken down into a �three part story� within the parable itself. Parables were designed to teach through a story but also had multiple meanings to each hearer with a deeper meaning only understood by the spirit. The same is true of this parable. 1) Part 1. This story discusses Christ�s critical view on the rigid religious class or caste system of the day with the Jewish rules using the Law of Moses for profit and claiming hereditary titles based on ancestors. 2) Part 2. We learn this �good Samaritan� story is the Christian story of how we are to treat our fellow men. We learn that no longer is �an eye for an eye� acceptable to God but that God is no respecter of persons or race and Christ has brought a new gospel with a new way to relate with our fellow human beings. 3) Part 3 is a similitude of Christ atonement for us. We learn that he binds our wounds, heals our suffering, that our fear of death is swallowed up in him and that his unconditional love is held outstretched towards us without compensation. In the same way, Christ, like the Good Samaritan, does for us what we can�t do for ourselves. He 1) provides salvation through his atonement and 2) draws us to him though his compassion and love towards us. We learn that we are not strangers but that we are cared for by Christ and become part of his family. Christ like the Good Samaritan stops to save our life, so that we are not left to die by the road side and thereafter, not just saving our life but Christ also shows compassion and mercy by ministering to us until we are healed and nursed back to health.

Part 1. The Samaritans were outcasts and untouchables in the eyes of the Jews, since they were a mixed race of Jews and the idolatrous Phoenicians that bordered Israel. In the story, the �priest� is likely a Sadducee, a member of the nobility and priestly caste and keepers of the temple, passes a fellow traveler who has been badly beaten and left to die on the roadside, [we are not told but I assume this is most likely another Sadducee], without stopping. Perhaps he is afraid of the same fate, a busy appointment, worried about the cost, the liability of being accused of commitment a crime. No matter, he passes by quickly since there is no profit in stopping. A Levite, another Jewish priestly caste, who also is a fellow Hebrew, also passes the traveler, without stopping. Again, we are left to make the same assumptions. Perhaps he is afraid of the same fate, an appointment, worried about the cost and so forth. Certainly, there is no profit to help the man. We are not told why both men passes without stopping and we are left to determine this for ourselves. The last party is the untouchable caste, a Samaritan, who has compassion on the man left to die. Not just any man, but a Sadducee, a man who should have been helped by his brothers in faith and also Jews. The Samaritan stops and saves the life of the man who has no ability to save his own life, binds the wounds of the injured, takes him to an inn, takes care of the injured, pays for his keep and then returns to see that the man is ok. This man is not related to him by race or faith, speaks a different language, and may be his heredity enemy. It may be that he is not able to communicate with the injured man since they speak different languages and have different customs.

Part 2. This is the familiar Good Samaritan story so often told by Christians. We learn God is not only no respecter of persons or race but that this story is a slap in the face of the Jews in Jerusalem in several ways. Firstly, each person is responsible for their salvation and that God does not value hereditary claims to secure salvation. Secondly, we also learn how we are to treat our fellow man. That Christ�s plan of salvation replaces the Law of Moses with mercy and compassion. No longer is an eye for an eye the measure of how we are to work with our fellow men. In a world of diversity, this message resonates through the ages.

Part 3. This is the third layer of the same story and illustrates that all of Christ�s sermons and miracles were designed to draw people to Christ to partake of salvation and God�s mercy. Christ is the Samaritan, the man who is despised and rejected by the Jews, who brings salvation. He like the Good Samaritan because he binds our wounds, heals our thirst and suffering, and our fear of death is swallowed up in him. Just as the Good Samaritan continued to care of the man after he knew he would live, Christ�s unconditional love is held outstretched towards us without compensation. Christ, like the Good Samaritan, does for us what we can�t do for ourselves. He 1) provides salvation through his atonement and 2) draws us to him though his compassion and love. We also learn that we are not strangers, but that we become part of Christ�s family through his merits. Christ like the Good Samaritan, stops not only to save our life, so that we are not left to die by the road side and thereafter, not just saving our life, but also Christ also shows compassion and mercy by ministering to us until we are healed and nursed back to health.

Part 1 again. Part 1 also has a �three part story� inside the plot. The man who fell among thieves was a Sadducee, a member of the nobility and priestly caste and keepers of the temple. The story tells us that we are not just to show forth charity to just people we know or should know but that we should show charity towards people we don�t know and finally, towards people we don�t know and who may be out enemies. The Sadducee represents people we know, fellow church members and people who speak our language. The Levite represents people we don�t know but people that we share a common faith or citizenship. Finally, the Samaritan represents people we don�t know and may be our real or heredity enemies.