The Good Samaritan

Children's Stories for Adults

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," Jesus 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 (Deut. 6:5) and love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18)." "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied, "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself and so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:25-29).

In reply, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) the obvious point of which is that our neighbor is anyone in need of our assistance. But parables are heavenly stories put into an earthly context where every character is symbolic of someone or something else, and the Parable of the Good Samaritan is no exception. Therefore we would expect to find a glimpse of Heaven contained within. Also the word parable literally means "to place along side" so the obvious story has to be accompanied by another less obvious one. Let's find it.

Who Are The Samaritans?

The Samaritans are the descendants of apostate Jews from the Northern Kingdom and pagans who had come to the region after Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom in 721BC. They were despised by the Jews because of their inter-marriage and because they had incorporated pagan rituals into their worship of God (both were forbidden by Jewish law.) A generation or so before the time of Jesus, a son of the Jewish High Priest had run away and married the daughter of the King of Samaria, built a temple there and promoted a rival worship system which caused a huge scandal. In her encounter with Jesus (John 4:4-42) the Samaritan "woman at the well" makes reference to this (vs. 19). The region called Samaria was named after the capital city of the former Northern Kingdom and is located in what's known today as the West Bank. Because their laws prohibit marrying outside their own, the Samaritan population has dwindled to a point where only about 700 exist today. They're not Palestinians, but they're not regarded as Jews either and keep pretty much to themselves. Some have equated the Jews' treatment of Samaritans during the time of Jesus with the southern whites' treatment of blacks in the early part of this century in the US, so to have a Samaritan as the hero of this story must have gotten their attention right away. By the way, the ruins of the Samaritan Temple have recently been discovered and are being excavated for future public display.

And Now, Back To Our Story

You know the obvious part. A man traveling along the old Jericho Road is beset by robbers who strip him of his clothes, beat him and leave him half dead. First a priest and then a Levite pass by, but simply cross to the other side and ignore him. Then a Samaritan comes along. He comes to where the man is, binds up his wounds applying oil and wine, and places him upon his own donkey. He takes the man to a nearby inn and cares for him. The next day he pays the man's present and future bill asking the innkeeper to look after him and promising to pay any balance due when he returns. The two silver coins he gave the innkeeper would have paid a man's hotel bill for up to 2 months in those days.

So, understanding that there's supposed to be a glimpse of Heaven here and that everyone in the parable is symbolic let's look for the hidden meaning. If we let the man represent you and me, we can easily discover who it is that would attack us, strip us of our clothing and leave us for dead. We know that our spiritual covering is often referred to in terms of clothing. "All our righteous works are as filthy rags," says Isaiah 64:6 whereas the Lord clothes us with "garments of salvation" and "robes of righteousness" (Isa. 61:10). And in Rev.19:8 our fine linen garments stand for "the righteous acts of the saints." So who would strip us of our covering of righteousness and leave us spiritually dead? Only Satan, the stealer of our soul. The priest and the Levite represent organized religion that in and of itself is powerless to restore spiritual life and leaves us just as dead as when it found us.

Will The Real Good Samaritan Please Stand Up?

And that leaves the Good Samaritan. Though despised by His countrymen, He comes to where we are after we've been attacked and beaten by our enemy, stripped of all our righteousness and left hopelessly lost in our sins, beyond the ability of all our religious works to restore us to God's favor. He binds up our wounds, pours on oil (the Holy Spirit) and wine (the joy of our salvation) and carries us to a place of spiritual comfort where He personally cares for us. Upon leaving this earth He paid all the present and future debt created by our sins, (silver was the coin of redemption) promising to settle any remaining balance (perfecting us) when He returns. This could only be the Lord Jesus, without Whom no amount of religious work will suffice to protect us from our enemy, but Who has come to bind up the broken hearted and proclaim freedom for the captives of sin (Isa. 61:1-2). He is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

And now you know the adult version.