25On 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?”

27He 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'[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]”

28″You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] 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?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

- Luke 10:25-37

This is arguably one of Jesus’ most famous parables. Certainly it has provided fodder for many a Sunday School lesson, and been used to prick the consciences of great and small alike.

Sadly for us, however, 2000 years have taken the edge off somewhat. Because we read in the context of 21st Century Australia, we lose much of the impact that Jesus intended when he addressed this parable to the expert in the law.

The parable starts out innocently (if somewhat unfortunately for the poor traveller of course) enough – a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho gets mugged. Along comes a priest, and the teacher of the law no doubt thought, “Good, he will help.” Upon hearing that he doesn’t however, he may have tried to justify this in his own mind – priests are, after all, prohibited from defiling themselves.

Next comes a Levite, surely a good and righteous man, who will help out a countryman in need… but no.

You can see how Jesus has carefully and cleverly set the scene and built expectation. Perhaps the Pharisee was even harbouring thoughts that the next passerby, who will surely help, might himself be a Pharisee. And yet, when Jesus delivers his punch-line, it is a despised Samaritan who shows the others up for their selfishness.

Josephus, the 1st Century A.D. Jewish historian records some of the background of the tension between the Jews and the Samaritans:

But now the [Samaritans]… each of them, according to their nations, which were in number five, brought their own gods into Samaria, and by worshiping them, as was the custom of their own countries, they provoked Almighty God to be angry and displeased at them, for a plague seized them by which they were destroyed; and when they found no cure for their miseries, they learned by the oracle that they ought to worship Almighty God, as the method for their deliverance. So they sent ambassadors to the king of Assyria, and desired him to send them some of those priests of the Israelites whom he had taken captive. And when he thereupon sent them, and the people were by them taught the laws and the holy worship of God, they worshiped him in a respectful manner, and the plague ceased immediately; and indeed they continue to make use of the very same customs to this very time , and are called in the Hebrew tongue Cutheans; but in the Greek Samaritans. And when they see the Jews in prosperity, they pretend that they are changed, and allied to them, and call them kinsmen, as though they were derived from Joseph, and had by that means an original alliance with them: but when they see them falling into a low condition, they say they are no way related to them, and that the Jews have no right to expect any kindness or marks of kindred from them, but they declare that they are sojourners, that come from other countries.

- Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews IX.xiv.3 (ed. William Whiston)

So you see the Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get on terribly well. So far as most Jews (almost certainly including the expert in the law of Luke 10) were concerned, Samaritans were the proverbial ‘fair-weather sailors’. They were more than happy to profess themselves as Jews when the going was easy, but when things were going against the Jews they were far from prepared to join in those sufferings. A modern day analogy might be a New Zealander moving to Australia, and supporting the Wallabies (or any other Australian team) so long as they are winning, but then throwing their lot over to the All Blacks (or equivalent) when they are on top.

It’s hard to imagine a group in our society quite so despised as the Samaritans in 1st Century Judea, but if you’ll bear with me I’ll have a go at re-telling this parable in a modern context:

A family found themselves broken down on the side of the road. The kids were running amok, mum sitting despondantly in the gutter with her head in her hands, dad a picture of frustration, alternating between trying to get through the billowing smoke to the dysfunctional automobile, and desperately trying to flag down any and all passers-by.

Along comes a bishop on the way to church. Running through his sermon notes in his mind, he at first barely registers the family and their predicament. When he does, however, he chooses to ignore them in favour of punctuality where he is going – after all, he has people depending on him, and someone else will no doubt be along in due course.

And someone does. Following close on the bishop’s heels is the president of the local Rotary Club. He too, though, has an appointment to keep, and pointedly keeps his eyes on the road.

Then an English cricketer appears on the scene…