EPISODE 100: Q&A

Date: 2/2/2022

Question: 

In the parable the Good Samaritan, I’m trying to understand how literal we are supposed to take it? I know we should help those in need. How far or how much risk should we be taking to help others? Does the condition of the person needing help matter? The person in the parable was beaten and left for dead. It doesn’t seem like that person could hurt me in their current condition. For example, should we help a hitchhiker? Should we pick them up, should we help them change their tire, should we call for help only? In this day you don’t know if someone is trying to deceive you. Should we only help if it’s life threatening?

  1. Don’t forget the context, it helps us to understand what Jesus was teaching and how it applies. 
  2. READ LUKE 10:25-29 “One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?””
  3. So the parable is meant to reveal to this man how he’s justifying his actions in a way that does not equal loving his neighbor. In fact, Jesus wants to reveal to the man a way he’s not loving his Samaritan neighbors because of a prejudice he has. Thus, at the end, the man can’t even say the word Samaritan when Jesus asks him, “Who in the parable showed love to the man?” 
  4. So that’s what the parable was meant to do. Equally important is what the parable isn’t meant to do. For example, the parable isn’t meant to be a “when you come across someone on the side of the road” ethical teaching. It’s meant to reveal to us a way we justify who we’re unwilling to love because of a prejudice we have.
  5. So, back to the potential scenarios mentioned in the question and when not stopping might be sinful or unloving.
    1. You have some sort of prejudice against all people who are stopped on the road.
    2. You’re willing to stop and help people that look like you but you won’t stop and help people who don’t look like you. Or other categories of people that you will or won’t help simply based on a prejudice.
    3. But we can’t make stopping or not stopping to help the litmus test of love. That wasn’t Jesus’ point. His point was the expert in the law’s prejudice against a particular people and wanting to self-justify in choosing who he gets to love as his neighbor and who he’s not required to love.