Theologian Allen Dwight Callahan considers Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan:
The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37)—perhaps Jesus’ most famous parable—offers us compelling signposts of compassion on the Jericho road of life. [1]
The first signpost of compassion along the Jericho road of life in the parable of the Good Samaritan is the sign of anonymity. Jesus has refused to disclose the identity of people in this parable…. The story of the fallen traveler and the compassionate Samaritan is a story of love that transcends identity…. It is a love that does not check references. It is love that does not demand a positive form of identification.
The second signpost of compassion along the Jericho road of life … is the signpost of altruism. The traditional title of Jesus’ parable refers to … this nameless, faceless traveler on the Jericho road of life as “the Good Samaritan.” But nowhere in the story is the Samaritan called “good.” The language of the good is wholly absent from this text. The God of the Bible makes many demands of us…. God has demanded through the mouths of the prophets that we be holy, just, merciful, humble, even perfect. But not good. There is little evidence that God wants us to be good. This is a truly liberating doctrine, one that must be good news to some of us….
With the signposts of anonymity and altruism there is a third signpost of compassion that marks the road to love, what we may call the signpost of alterity. It is the sign of difference … [used] when we talk about “those people.”…
The Judeans and the Samaritans shared the same ancient traditions. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the ancient ancestors of both. Both peoples belonged to the same Mosaic covenant. The land of promise had been promised to both. The history that divided them was the same history that united them.…
In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus reminds us that it is because we are so close to each other that our differences are so vexing. But the differences are never as great as we fancy them to be. The Samaritan and the man at his mercy were enemies because of all they had in common. They shared Abraham and Palestine, Moses and Sinai, and, most important, they shared the divine commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor.
The anonymity, altruism, and alterity of the Samaritan are the signposts that point to just such a love. His actions have shown us for his time, for our time, and for all time the meaning of love. He looked upon a fallen fellow human being with the eyes of compassion. He treated his wounds with the costly unguents of mercy. He provided for him in the spirit of the law of a God who has commanded us to love the neighbor we encounter on the Jericho road of life. Let us go and do likewise.
References:
[1] Callahan points to Martin Luther King Jr. as the source of the phrase “the Jericho road of life.” See King’s “On Being a Good Neighbor,” in Strength to Love (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010), 22.
Allen Dwight Callahan, “Compassion: Signposts on the Jericho Road,” Radical Grace 20, no. 3 (July–August–September 2007): 12–13.
Image credit and inspiration: Providence Doucet, Untitled (detail), 2016, photo, Canada, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Like Jesus’ parables, we can look closely at fallen leaves and see things new.
Story from Our Community:
I have been reflecting on how we tell the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus never actually refers to “the good Samaritan,” but only “a Samaritan.” Church scribes and editors through the ages refer to this Samaritan as “good,” presupposing that most Samaritans are “bad.” For me, this exposes some old historical biases. If we take the perspective of a Samaritan, we would probably not so quickly differentiate between the “good” or “bad” among our own group. All of us humans are really all somewhere in between.
—Brian H.
