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’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Luke 10:27
The story of the Good Samaritan can be unpacked in several meaningful ways. Today our focus will be on how the kindness of the Good Samaritan is a lesson on how we should love our neighbours. When an expert in law questioned Jesus as to what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded with verse 27 as stated above. The individual further inquired as to who is considered as his neighbour.
In the parable, there was a man who was attacked and left for dead. A priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan each in turn came across the individual. In the end, it was neither the religious leader, nor the associate that assisted the man, but someone who was a foreigner. As background, the reader should be aware that Samaritans were not well liked due to their foreign status at the time, and thus it was surprising that it was the Samaritan that helped, showed compassion, bandaged his wounds, brought the injured man to the inn and took care of him out of his own pocket.
Jesus asked the expert of law who he thought was the neighbour and it was clear that the Samaritan was because he demonstrated mercy. Jesus's command for us is to do the same--to be a neighbour who helps, show mercy, and is kind to others who are in need. It is through this story that the term Good Samaritan was coined and inspired generations to come to follow the model behaviour of the helping neighbour.
Reflection: Not taking the literal meaning of "neighbour" as the individual who lives next to you, from this parable, how can you be a good neighbour to others?
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The Good Samaritan parable will help our Christian Calm Radio audience explore the concept of kindness and being a neighbour in this week's devotional. Accompany your time reading the blog with worship music on Christian Calm Radio.