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The Parable of the Good Samaritan

MeganC

MeganC

Seasoned Member
Real Person*
Female
Some of the finer points of this parable are apparently being missed and I wanted to open this topic for a broader discussion.

Here is the parable with discussion to follow:

Luke 10:25-37

The Parable of the Good Samaritan​

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 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’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
 
I'm going to start with some questions:

1. Why did Jesus use a Samaritan in particular as the 'good guy' in this story?
2. How was Jesus' favorable portrayal of a Samaritan a source of conflict and consternation in His time?
3. Who was insulted because of Jesus' favorable portrayal of a Samaritan?
4. Why would priests and Levites in particular avoid helping a beaten and bloodied man on the side of the road?
5. When Jesus said to the lawyer to 'go and do likewise' why was this a revolutionary request in His time?
 
@MemeFan You are invited to participate here. I posted this in response to your comments.
 
There is no conflict because there is no disagreement between at least two people what to do with resource and/or what somebody is allowed to do with his body. Notice that there is no violence in story except as background for wounded man.

Jews hated Samaritarians, so him being better than moral pillars (priests) is painful.

Idea of neighbor as somebody being close in proximity rather than in clan/religious sense qould be revolutionary.
 
MemeFan said:
Idea of neighbor as somebody being close in proximity rather than in clan/religious sense qould be revolutionary.
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Then why do you keep telling people to 'stay out' of situations where other people are being attacked and getting killed?

This is my point. Humanity is everyone's business.

Jesus knew this and He commanded us to make it our business when people were hurt, even if they were not part of our group.

MemeFan said:
Jews hated Samaritarians, so him being better than moral pillars (priests) is painful.
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Far worse, the Samaritan was doing something the Jews were supposed to do. But the Jews of the time would only do so for each other and not for gentiles.

MemeFan said:
Notice that there is no violence in story except as background for wounded man.
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There is violence in the story but it is secondary to the story.

But since you brought up this point do you think Jesus would have said to stay out of it if you were present when the man was beset by robbers?
 
MeganC said:
Then why do you keep telling people to 'stay out' of situations where other people are being attacked and getting killed?

This is my point. Humanity is everyone's business.

Jesus knew this and He commanded us to make it our business when people were hurt, even if they were not part of our group.



Far worse, the Samaritan was doing something the Jews were supposed to do. But the Jews of the time would only do so for each other and not for gentiles.



There is violence in the story but it is secondary to the story.

But since you brought up this point do you think Jesus would have said to stay out of it if you were present when the man was beset by robbers?
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Because situations aren't same.

Your last paragraf is when due to circustamces you find yourself involved in situation. It's another case when you join developing situation.

I find it reasonable if friend is in developing situation and you provide help. But does same rule apply to situation thousands of km away? I don't think so.

First priority are closest one, while fartherst one got minimum or zero.

What happens when people don't keep this rule? Now any conflict/hotspot can cascade into global war. And such conflict don't have resolution since losing side can draw on resources outside. So any hotstop is now alliance war.

And alliance war is finished when stronger member of alliance is exhausted (example: Germany WW2) since strongest member will bail out losing weak one.

This it's not worst. Problem is what happens is war gets messianic? Then forget about any diplomancy. Let's fight till last man standing (literally). This is now happening with Ukraine and Israel/Palestine.

To many have already dies. So what if West has lost. I don't care. I'm not willing to sacrifice several more hundred thousand people and be OK with widespread improvishment just because some Western "elected" prick can't suffer ego hit.

Have you heard of 30 year war (name of)? Most will call it war of religion, but it was also war over Habsburg supremancy over Europe. Just when Habsburg have crushed Checz protestants, German ones join in rebellion and got defeated. And then Danish got into party and got defeated. Then it was Sweden turn. And last one was France which didn't get crushed. Human cost? Starting generation massacred itself, then their children repeated process.

War ended when there was nobody to fight and nobody to pay sufficient taxes for next round. I want to avoid this outcome which is completely reasonable.

And balance of power is reason why strenghtening of any state isn't long-term problem. Everyone knows that strongest one is most able to bully, so everyone else has interest to join forces and stop bullying.
 
One must be careful when applying the God’s personal prescriptions to nation states. For instance, dictatorship (albeit, a benevolent dictatorship) is essentially the prescription for a family structure, but God gave Israel judges to lead them, not a king. The judges didn’t have kingly power. Ultimately Israel begged God for a king, but God’s design was to not centralize power for the nation under a human king. God’s rules were to be carried out and enforced by many elders throughout the nation. In a similar way the parable of the good Samaritan applies to you, not the United States or any other country. If you feel called to go help people in a different country or send them money, that’s one thing and I would say a noble thing. However, if you want to send someone else to fight for them or to send someone else’s money, that’s liberalism in a nut shell, and more specifically, it is theft.
 
I will just add it's natural to seek help when being in unfair situation. Which means lobbying higher autborities. What are consequences in practice?

To use US as example, country government is abusing me. State government help, please. State government is abusing me. Federal government help, please. Now federal government is running everything and fights for power are more vicious.

And it's way harder to vote out or move out from federal government than lower. So abuse of power will be way bigger.
 
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Any thoughtful response from an 'unlimited' Biblical perspective would have to be held in the ghetto.

Why? The 'samaritan' was a part of the 'lost tribes,' exiled for paganism by YHVH. THAT is a big part of the reason for the 'animosity' (and perhaps Yahushua's main point.*)

Yet, he was more obedient to Yah's Instruction than those others listed. Why? (And there are a number of elements to that which do NOT get taught in 'sunday school!' Like the reasons the 'ritually clean' cohen did not stop, right or wrong.)

Note, too, that the segment you quoted begins with what He called the "most important" commandment in Scripture. (See parallels, Matthew 22, Mark 12. All quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5+ -- sometimes referred to in Hebrew as simply "HaShema.")



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* There were, after all, TWO whoring wives. BOTH exiled for cause, and that included those listening. And don't forget, Yahushua said, "I come BUT to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," aka - the 'northern kingdom, 'ten lost tribes,' which was essentially the land then known as Samaria.
 
Mark C said:
"I come BUT to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," aka - the 'northern kingdom, 'ten lost tribes,' which was essentially the land then known as Samaria.
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My understanding was that the ten tribes were deported, and Assyrians were moved into those cities. They had to send back some priests to teach the people how to live in a manner acceptable to YHWH. ....because there were lions killing people....
 
Pretty much true, and ultimately there was a scattering, and a mixture...to the point that their identity was generally lost (even in the land that had been 'Israel.')
 
Joleneakamama said:
My understanding was that the ten tribes were deported, and Assyrians were moved into those cities. They had to send back some priests to teach the people how to live in a manner acceptable to YHWH. ....because there were lions killing people....
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Probably some other people not Assyrians.

Why they would move there themselves when their policy produced lot of unhappy people? Better to move riotous subjects there as punishment before they get more disturbing ideas like independence.
 
MeganC said:
And what I am trying to get across to you is that Jesus wants us to offer help in an unfair situation.
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First question is does situation call for our intervention. And second it's wise. And third it's a trap.

It you bothered to read whole post you would figured out. Solution for abuse of country/state government it fight them directly or move out. It's mistake to accept federales help (explained above).
 
MeganC said:
Well, you do you then. But if you want to insist that Christians mind their own business and stay out of it when people are suffering you'll find that a fair number of us won't cooperate.
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Then real issue is stopping Christians from being political stupid: helping our enemies achieve their goals which includes destruction of us.
 
MemeFan said:
Then real issue is stopping Christians from being political stupid:
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"Politically stupid" in your world is anyone who disagrees with Putin/Russia.

Your allegiance to Putin/Russia needs to take a back seat to being a Christian if you're going to claim to be a Christian.

It's not like you don't possess a proper set of Christian values and it's not that you are not a solidly moral person because for the most part you are.

It's just that when the subject is Putin/Russia that part of your brain that controls your values and morals would seem to shut off.

This is the person I know you are in your unguarded moments and this is who I wish you would be in all things and at all times:

memefan.jpg
 
MeganC said:
"Politically stupid" in your world is anyone who disagrees with Putin/Russia.

Your allegiance to Putin/Russia needs to take a back seat to being a Christian if you're going to claim to be a Christian.

It's not like you don't possess a proper set of Christian values and it's not that you are not a solidly moral person because for the most part you are.

It's just that when the subject is Putin/Russia that part of your brain that controls your values and morals would seem to shut off.

This is the person I know you are in your unguarded moments and this is who I wish you would be in all things and at all times:

View attachment 6609
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Chriatian's political stupidity requires new thread.

And just short answer. Not a Putin fan. And you can be against Putin without requiring war.
 
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