Journalists face threats. Deportations continue. people protest. Wars will increase. Clowns boil over. In the words of a friend, “I’m torn between having a stroke and being a joke.”
The parable of the Good Samaritan asks another question: What does it mean to be saved? by trouble?
Although many see this story as a simple lesson about ethnic prejudice, the friction is much more jagged. A man is robbed, beaten and left for dead. The priest and Levite pass by, but a Samaritan stops to help. In the parable, the Samaritan is more than just a stranger. They are religious outcasts who worship on the “wrong” mountain and reject the authority of the prophets. To the Jews, the Samaritans are heretics.
The parable begins with a lawyer asking Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” This question sets the boundaries. Where does responsibility stop? Lawyers want to determine the minimum obligations to fulfill our ethical responsibilities to others.
People often view priests and Levites as moral failures, convenient targets when religious authority is in question. This story suggests otherwise. Perhaps they were not indifferent. Perhaps they thought the man was dead. Touching a corpse would make them unclean and jeopardize their role. Their hesitation may have stemmed from loyalty rather than ruthlessness. Following rules can make it difficult to care for others.
But Jesus did not consider their reasons. he changes the question completely. Instead of answering “Who is my neighbor?” “Who acted like a neighbor?” he asks. “The one who showed him mercy,” the lawyer replied, carefully avoiding the Samaritan’s name. Jesus replies, “Go and do the same.”
The power of this parable comes from the fact that the Samaritan seems like the wrong person to help. Your neighbor is actually your enemy. Outsiders serve as role models. Samaritans are considered religiously questionable, socially dangerous, and wrong in their beliefs. Yet he is the one whose kindness revives a wounded man and returns him to his community. The person who saves a man from falling into a ditch is someone you wouldn’t normally trust.
This type of reversal is common in Jesus’ teachings. Loving your neighbor also includes loving your enemies. The key is to do the right thing, not just feel the right way. Jesus often acts like the Samaritan, such as healing on the Sabbath, touching people who are considered unclean, and going against expectations. “The Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Laws are meant to help people, not just keep things safe.
The same tension can be seen in other situations. The doctor was involved in a car accident, but was hesitant due to concerns about legal risks. Good Samaritan laws exist because even trained professionals can be hesitant to help. Similar hesitations now affect the medical care of at-risk pregnancies. Doctors stop not because they don’t know what to do, but because they fear the consequences of helping.
Immigration authorities have shown similar pressure. Workers are subject to quotas, rules, and orders that limit their judgment. Responsibility is passed down the chain. Showing compassion becomes a problem. Following orders eliminates personal responsibility. The system works smoothly, but is configured to suppress mercy.
Ethical systems, whether religious, professional, or civil, are excellent in this regard. They keep good people loyal by doing nothing. The priests and Levites were not hypocrites. they followed the rules. When rules are more important than compassion, compassion becomes just an idea, admired and talked about, but an afterthought.
Hannah Arendt warned that when sympathy becomes political, it turns into forced sympathy, which is “more likely to produce cruelty than cruelty itself.” Sympathy drives people apart. Compassion bridges that gap. Samaritans do not criticize or express their feelings. He treats wounds with oil and wine. He pays. He himself gets involved.
This story is not about fixing the system. It’s about invading them. Changing the structure is important, but it won’t stop someone from bleeding in the gutter. Thirsty people need water before they can plan their irrigation. Jesus rejects the comfort of postponing good.
The priest and the Levite each had their own reasons. The Samaritan felt a need. In response, he becomes what the system could not create, becomes free, and in freeing the wounded man he is free too.
The problem becomes even clearer when we are in the trenches, hurt, exposed, barely alive. that’s not there anymore Who is my neighbor? But it’s whether we accept help from people we don’t expect, people we don’t trust, or people we didn’t think we needed.
Sometimes salvation does not come as comfort. It arrives as an interruption. It starts with accepting help that confuses us.
notes and reading
parable of the new samaritan—Luke 10:25-37.
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“Neighbor” comes from Old English (nearby resident). greek Presion (meaning “near” or “fellow”) was used by Jesus to redefine the term in the parable of the Good Samaritan, thereby removing nationality and background barriers to include anyone in need.
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jesus short stories—amy jill levin (2014). Mr. Levine is the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at the Hartford University of International Religions and Peace and Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University.
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parable of grace—robert farrar capon (1988). Capon was an Episcopal priest, author, and chef.
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About the revolution“Social Issues”—hannah arendt (1982). Arendt argues that, unlike the American Revolution, the French Revolution was unable to secure freedom through stable institutions and instead moved toward a politics of sympathy, a direction anticipated in Rousseau’s thought and later radicalized by Robespierre and Saint-Just.
held over fire
89 seconds
Approximately 2+2=5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
