Jesus Tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan
"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And
he answering said, 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. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
And Jesus answering said, 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 neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." Luke 10:25-36 KJV
The Parable Explained
The Bible verses mention to love your neighour as you love yourself. What is the self love spoken of? What does it mean to love your neighbour as you love yourself?
This is my take on what it means to love yourself: When you love yourself, you have dignity, you have respect for self, you have self esteem. Self esteem is very different from selfish love or ego. Ego is boastful and mindful of your own needs only, whereas self esteem is a confident state of satisfaction with oneself, having an honest measure of knowing one's strengths and weaknesses and thereby displaying humility. One must be understanding of people who seem to be wrapped up in ego, as this may arise from a damaged sense of self and may come from an unconscious lack of self esteem. Self esteem is a confident state of being, whereas ego may be thought of as a longing of more for self in a driving need to fill the yawning emptiness inside.
What does it them mean to love your neighbour and who is considered your neighbour? Jesus explained this in the parable He told of the good Samaritan. Picture the scene: a man is travelling alone on foot on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The man walks into the midst of a thieving horde, who beat him up, wound him, and strip him of his clothes and then leave him half dead, lying where he falls in the road.
A Priest is the first person to come upon the scene. What does the Priest do? He sees the man lying in the road, perhaps dusty and bloodied, needing help, and he crosses over to the other side of the road! He doesn't check on the man to see if he's okay, he makes sure to avoid him! Imagine your Pastor doing the same to a person lying bleeding and hurt in the road!
Then a Levite comes upon the scene. I did some brief research into who a Levite is (1) and they seem to be people who have some religious duties, but also political duties. So another person in high standing happens upon the scene. The Levite goes over to the man lying hurt in the road, and he looks him over, and then he crosses over to the other side of the road and continues on his journey. The Levite may rightly assess that the man needs assistance or he may die, yet he carries on walking, not wanting to make the man's problems his own! Jesus did not say the Priest or the Levite go to get help, he said they passed the man by!
Then a Samaritan happens upon the scene. Who is a Samaritan? (2) Remember that Jesus is Jewish and when He mentions a Samaritan, He is talking about a person from a different cultural and ethnic group, and also from a different religion. Jewish people and Samaritans did not mix. They did not even speak to each other normally. The word Samaritan does not mean that all Samaritan people are good, but this particular Samaritan was a good person who saw past ethnic lines! So the Samaritan man sees a wounded Jewish man lying in the road, hurt, and the Samaritan has compassion on the man. He binds the man's wounds and pours oil and wine on them and then he carries the man and lays him onto his horse or donkey and transports him to an inn, where he ministers further to the wounded man. The next day the Samaritan leaves the man at the inn, and before he goes he pays enough for the man's board and lodging and a bit more, and he says that if the money is not enough to cover the length of the man's stay, that when he comes back later he pay more. The Samaritan does all he can for the man to make sure he recovers fully!
Jesus concludes the story by asking which one of the Priest, Levite or Samaritan was the neighbour to the wounded man, and he agrees with the answer given that it was the Samaritan, the one who did all he could to help the wounded man. And then Jesus says, go and do likewise!
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