The key to understanding the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) lies in knowing how first-century Israel answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” (v. 29). They’d distorted the command “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) into “love your neighbor and hate your enemy” (Matthew 5:43). The Jews defined a neighbor as a fellow Israelite, for gentiles were accursed.
For the Pharisees (experts in the law), it referred to a fellow Pharisee, for those who knew nothing of the law were accursed (John 7:49). Jesus turned this thinking upside down by making a hated Samaritan (people of mixed race whom the Jews viewed as heretics) the hero of the story. The Spirit can help us today to show compassion to others instead of simply passing by.
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