The Merciful Stranger

In Luke 10, a man comes to Jesus and asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies by asking the man what he had understood from Scripture in answer to that question. The man summarizes the law, saying,

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

Jesus agrees with this summary, saying, “This do, and thou shalt live,” but that answer does not satisfy the man, who asks further, “Who is my neighbor?” Knowing that the man’s goal was only to justify himself, Jesus gives a parable in response to the question:

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?”

I don’t know what the man thought or how he felt about Jesus’ story, but he gave the right answer:

“He that showed mercy on him.”

It is easy to read this story and cheer for the good Samaritan, making much of his character and generosity, but miss the practical application of what Jesus intended it to illustrate.

Of the three men who travelled that road and saw the wounded man, the Samaritan was not the most likely to stop. In fact, to the Jewish audience to which Jesus spoke this parable, Samaritans were considered apostate half-breeds, hated and despised.

Great lengths were taken by the Jews of Jesus’ day to avoid travelling through Samaria to get anywhere else, and the mere mention of a Samaritan in Jesus’ parable likely shocked some of His hearers, let alone the Samaritan appearing in the role of the hero.

For the Samaritan of all people to show mercy to the Jewish man would have been a surprising twist, especially since the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans was not at all one-sided.

It is interesting how Jesus chose to phrase this parable: it is a certain man, a specific road, a certain priest, a certain Samaritan: all this makes it quite likely that Jesus is relating something that had actually happened. In fact, one commentator I read suggested that this may have been an event which the crowd would have known of. That is just interesting speculation, but it does seem from what Jesus said that this was no made up-story, but rather a real-life illustration of what it means to be merciful.

It is often pointed out (and rightly so) that the Samaritan didn’t let the man’s heritage stop him from showing mercy on the wounded man. In our current culture, I think it is needful to also mention that the Samaritan also did not let the wounded man’s feelings towards his heritage stop him. There was no excuse of “I can’t help him, he’s a Jew. They hate us!” The man needed help, so the Samaritan helped him.

The Samaritan’s example is a good reminder to us that we are to show mercy to others regardless of who they are, what society thinks of them –or even what they think about us. After all, God Himself showed us mercy while we were still at enmity with Him.

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

The knowledge of how much mercy God has extended to you and to me ought to give us hearts ready, willing, even eager to pour our own pitiful store of mercy out on others. And when the Holy Spirit prompts us to some act or word or service of mercy, let us obey immediately, regardless of that person’s personality, beliefs, past actions, or attitude towards us.

God’s mercy extends to the lowest and the least –and aren’t you glad it does?