Who is the Good Samaritan?

The Good Samaritan story is one that is rich, layered, and has depth. It sticks in your ribs, doesn’t it? It’s a story that you know well and you’ve heard many times as a Christian. The story of someone who chose to stay, to help, to give without asking anything in return. But, who is the Good Samaritan in the world?

The Samaritans at the time were not people who had it easy. They would have been considered to be people in the margins. Yet, Jesus makes the hero of this parable a Samaritan anyway. Perhaps, radically.

If I asked you who Jesus is in the story, you may go straight for the Good Samaritan. Right? The person who gave and didn’t receive, who didn’t make the injured person beg or earn help. And that’s fair. Jesus could absolutely be that character. But, Jesus could also be seen in the man injured, beaten and left. The man who people walked by first. I could argue that Jesus could also be seen in the Priest and the Levite. The people who had to make an impossible choice- abide by the law that wouldn’t allow them to help others if they helped the man, or fall into human thinking and reasoning before deciding what to do. Jesus was fully divine, but Jesus was also fully human. Jesus would get weary and even turned people away when that humanity overwhelmed him. Jesus felt anger, felt impossible choices, just as we all do.

In a world that is in such need of help, love, and grace, do we wait for a call to action to show compassion before stepping forward like the Good Samaritan? Do we wait for those already in the margins to help first?

What I learn from this story is simple: My first question was always, why was the man on the road? Where was he going? Why was he traveling on a road known for danger? What was his motive? The answer is: it doesn’t matter. The Good Samaritan didn’t ask to know a thing before stepping in. I once saw a protest sign that said, “You don’t have to know someone to speak up for them.” We all fall into that ditch ourselves sometimes, needing to know why someone needs help before giving it. The story, the why, becomes the reason whether we help or not.

This week, try and help without knowing. Without asking who someone is first. Without knowing the why or the story. Help without asking for a reason. Jesus calls us to feel “compassion so deep it’s from the bowels” because that is how God loves us. We have been given grace without having to explain why we need it. God already gave it. And that, that’s the Gospel and the good news. That’s how we follow this parable and bring God’s love to life.

Sommer