Good Samaritan Parable

The Good Samaritan parable is about being a neighbor to others. It was told by Jesus in a response to question he received from an expert in the law.

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: " '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, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus proceeded to tell the story of how a Jewish man was robbed and left to die on the side of the road. Two of his own countrymen, a priest and a Levite, came across him at different times and did not attempt to help him but rather walked by on the other side. Later a foreigner from Samaria came along and showed pity to the man, bandaging his wounds and taking care of him. The foreigner even took the man to an inn where he would have shelter and a place to rest while he healed. At the end of the story Jesus rewords the experts question and asks:

Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him," refusing to say the name Samaritan because of the predjudice between Jews and Samaritans.

Many times our question to God is just like the expert's question. We ask "who is my neighbor," hoping to get out of something, while God is asking us to become a real neighbor to everyone.

Jesus is much more interested in what we become, rather than what we do. If we seek to love our neighbor as ourselves we seek a good thing, but what if it is inconvenient or awkward to show love? What happens when our neighbor is unlovable? Will we choose to fight through the barriers to show love anyway? Maybe we will and maybe we won't. If the good samaritan parable were a true story the priest and Levite would have probably shown love to many people in their lifetime, but for some reason at this time they didn't.

If we are honest with ourselves we can relate more to the the priest and Levite rather than the Samaritan. Not to the extreme that we would ignore a dying man, but in the sense that there are people we've had the opportunity to help and didn't? The only way we can really help those around us is to become a neighbor like the Samaritan who had it in his nature to love despite all barriers.

The Good Samaritan parable challenges all to become a real neighbor. The only way we can do this is to draw close to Jesus. As we do we will be transformed into his likeness so that we become the neighbor he wants us to be.