Jesus of Nazareth’s Parable of The Good Samaritan is all about doing away with any system of belief that clashes with compassion.
We all know the story. Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the following parable in response.
Luke 10:30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
When we read this parable, many of us immediately think that the Priest and Levite were heartless bastards. We think, “The Priest and Levite are tools! How could they just walk by a person in need like that? Heartless bastards!” I think that’s a terrible interpretation of this story. I think both the Priest and the Levite really, really wanted to help, but they could not. Why? Bluntly: their systems of belief prevented them from helping their brother. Their help would have rendered them “unclean” and would have – in their minds – separated them from their God.
Jesus, in the story, celebrates the Samaritan. The Samaritan’s system of belief did not prevent him from showing compassion to another person in need. Jesus’ Jewish brothers and sisters despised Samaritans and considered them to be unclean. Should they actually touch a Samaritan they would be rendered “unclean” according to their system of belief. Jesus, a Jew himself, however, made the Samaritan the hero of his parable because the Samaritan did not create and was not bound by a system of belief that prevented him from being truly compassionate to others.
Ultimately, the Parable of the Good Samaritan is a story that de-emphasizes the question of “who is right and who is wrong” (clean vs. unclean) and instead emphasizes a compassion that is liberated from detrimental systems of belief. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong, what matters is that we all focus upon compassion and get involved with what God is doing in all of our lives. Everyone is transformed when the dividing walls that support detrimental systems of belief are razed. In fact, when these systems of belief are torn down, even lowly Samaritans can become heroes! God, it seems, celebrates the individual who is compassionate to others, regardless of their religious affiliation. It’s not the system or religion that matters; it’s the compassion. In fact, these folks who prioritize compassion over belief systems are God’s heroes.
It’s not about belief systems. And anyone, regardless of their belief system, can be God’s hero too.
That’s Jesus of Nazareth’s take on it anyway.