In one sense, the literal meaning of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is quite clear. We could summarise it by saying that we ought to prove ourselves to be good neighbours to those around us, to those who are in need. Perhaps it is simply this that Christ’s wishes to tell us.
But let’s not rush too quickly to this interpretation. Let us consider first the symbolic meaning of this story. The early church was uniform in believing that the Parable of the Good Samaritan was not teaching us simply to love other people. Rather, it is a Parable that teaches us how God has loved us in Christ. This may have been veiled from the minds of the original listeners, but it is nevertheless the truth.
The shocking first detail of the story is that it was not the priest or the Levite who stopped to help the man who was in need. These are the ones who we would expect to do so. They are people like me, who wear clothes signifying their religious role. And, yet, they were too busy, preoccupied and disinclined to help a man who was truly broken.
The Samaritan, on the other hand, represented an ethnic group and a religious sensibility that was resented by the Jewish people of the time. Christ’s story is subversive because it was the Samaritan and not the religious officials who stopped to help the man who had been beaten and robbed.
But, there is an even deeper and more subversive aspect to this observation, which is that, in speaking about the Good Samaritan, Christ was in fact speaking of himself.
Consider the words of the great Early Church theologian Origen:
‘The priest is the law, the Levite is the Prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience. The (stable), which accepts all who wish to enter, is the church, The two denarii mean the Father and the Son. The manager of the stable is the head of the church, to whom its care has been entrusted. The fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Saviour’s second coming.’
Or the words of St Augustine:
‘God our Lord wished to be called our neighbour. The Lord Jesus Christ meant that he was the one who gave help to the man lying half-dead on the road, beaten and left by robbers.’
And, again,
‘Robbers left you half-dead on the road, but you have been found lying there by the passing and kindly Samaritan. Wine and oil have been poured on you. You have received the sacrament of the only-begotten Son. You have been lifted onto his mule. You have believed that Christ became flesh. You have been brought to the inn, and you are being cured in the church.’
It is so important to recognise this level of the story. Without it, the Parable of the Good Samaritan becomes simply a moralistic fable, telling us that it is not our status that makes us morally good but our actions. That message is valuable enough but this is not where God begins with us.
The reason for this is because we do not begin in a place of strength and ability. Rather, we begin in a place of weakness and sin. We are like that man who fell among robbers, being stripped of our dignity, beaten and bruised by sin, both our own and that of others. We are helpless in and of ourselves and have no power to heal or save ourselves.
The Samaritan represents the work of Christ and, in the deepest sense, the compassion of God for us. He then has had compassion upon us. He has bound our wounds. He has poured on them the oil and wine which cleanses and heals us. He has placed us upon his animal and taken us to a place of safety, refuge and restoration. This is all the work of Christ. And, as Origen tells us, as we are healed and restored within the ark of the Church of God, we await the return of the Son of God, who will bring to us ultimate healing and will bestow upon us everlasting life.
Christ is the Samaritan. God wished to become a neighbour to us and he has done so in the coming into this world of Jesus Christ. He ‘wished to be called our neighbour’.
Consider for a moment how this might apply to you: What mercy the Lord has had upon you. What forgiveness he has bestowed. What patience and love he has displayed. What providential care he has given to you. How he has brought you through every trial and then to this place. How he has given you strength and provision for each day. All of this is the work of Christ, the Good Samaritan.
“You go, and do likewise.”
It is from this place of profound gratitude to God and for his love for us that we proceed. And here we recall the answer of the lawyer to the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And the response, “You 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, and your neighbour as yourself.”
These two commandments summarise all of the Old Testament Law. To live by them is to fulfil that Law. And yet we must observe their connection. Loving God is not distinct from loving our neighbour. To love our neighbour, we must also love God. And to love God, we must love our neighbour.
What I mean by that is that it is the love of God, living within us, that gives us the power to love of our neighbour. When we observe the goodness of God in our own lives and meditate upon it, we are (gradually, slowly) changed inside. And it is this change deep down inside of us that helps us to love those whom God has placed around us.
As the Apostle John says elsewhere, ‘Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God…In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us’ (1 John 4:7,10-12).
The love of God is manifested now in our love for one another. This is a love which begins with God’s love for us in Christ and is displayed in and through us.
Who is my neighbour?
Let’s return to this question then, “Who is my neighbour?” This is what the lawyer asked and what he meant was, “Who am I to love? How am I to tell where to place my care and affection?”
Christ’s final question turns the question on its head. After telling the story of the Good Samaritan, he asked, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
In other words, the issue isn’t who we deem to be an object worthy of our love and care but on how we can prove ourselves to be a neighbour to others.
Again, as Christ has drawn near to us in the Incarnation, we are to draw near to others in love and service to them.
The Parable teaches us that these opportunities are often the ones that present themselves to us in the most immediate and obvious way. And, yet, they may be the ones we are least willing to take. In the story, it was “by chance” that the priest and the Levite and the Samaritan were walking upon that particular road. And, yet, we can hear the humorous irony in Christ’s statement here: nothing is “by chance” but all is by the providence of God and according to his plan.
It is not then by chance that you are surrounded by the people and places that you are. It is God’s calling to you. It might not be particularly exciting to love your family members, your friends, your colleagues, whoever you find yourself immediately acquainted with, to serve those whom God has put in front of you. But, like the priest and the Levite, if you cannot or will not serve them, then what hope have you in your love and service of others?
This is not to say that we ought not to find ways to love and serve that are not immediately obvious. But it is to say that it is almost always the case that there is a family member, a friend, an acquaintance, someone in church, perhaps, who could do with a visit, a kindly word, an act of service, a phone call. Are you willing to pay attention to these people and to respond to God’s calling?
I recently read a short parable by Tolstoy. I don’t have time to tell the whole story but suffice to say that it is about an emperor who is trying to find out the answer to three questions:
What is the best time to do each thing?
Who are the most important people to work with?
What is the most important thing to do at all times?
His wise men and advisors prove useless in answering these questions, so he visits a hermit who lives in the mountains and asks the questions. But instead of answering them the hermit gets him first to tend his flower beds, and then to help a wild man who emerges from the woods and is wounded. This wild man turns out to be an enemy who was planning on killing the emperor. The emperor’s attendants had recognised him and wounded him on his way. But, being tended to by the emperor, he confesses and they are reconciled. At the end of the story, the hermit addresses the emperor’s initial questions:
“Yesterday, if you had not taken pity on my age and given me a hand with digging these beds, you would have been attacked by that man on your way home. Then you would have deeply regretted not staying with me. Therefore the important time was the time you were digging in the beds, the most important person was myself, and the most important pursuit was to help me. Later, when the wounded man ran up here, the most important time was the time you spent dressing his wound, for if you had not cared for him he would have died and you would have lost the chance to be reconciled with him. Likewise, he was the most important person, and the most important pursuit was taking care of his wound.
“Remember that there is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy.”
And, indeed, we may want to observe that to share the love of Christ with the person standing at our side is to share the path to ultimate and everlasting happiness.
Attend to what God puts in front of you and truly you will be walking in the way of Christ. Truly you will prove yourself to be a Good Samaritan.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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