Who Is My Neighbor?

The Good Samaritan and the Question of Neighbor Love

When Jesus said to love your neighbor, a lawyer asked him, Well, who is my neighbor? So Jesus told a parable of a traveler on the road to Jericho who was robbed and left for dead. A Samaritan saved the traveler's life after a passing priest and Levite wouldn't stop to help.

Because of that story, we associate the term Samaritan as a person of goodwill. Some charities have incorporated it into their names. But who is a Samaritan and why did Jesus use him in his parable? The Samaritans are a mixed race, a remnant of the northern kingdom of Israel.

The History of the Samaritans and Samaria

2 Kings 17 records how the king of Assyria brought foreigners to settle in Samaria in 722 BC. Over time, the Jews assimilated into non-Jewish culture, intermarrying with the Mesopotamians. Some Jewish tradition remained.

They had a version of the Pentateuch, Israel's history and historical narratives, but they differed from the Hebrew tradition. In John 4, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well that they worship their own version of God, but don't really know him.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

The Jews considered it a defilement to pass through Samaria. When Jesus began his story with a traveler on the road to Jericho, that was a route the Jews would take to go around Samaria and avoid Samaritans.

And yet, that's exactly who saved the traveler's life. In using a Samaritan in his parable, Jesus was saying to the high and lofty, even a person who doesn't know God and of a people that you think you're better than, knows to help the broken.

How much more should you, who has God's word, understand even the simplest of commands? Jesus asked who in the story proved to be a good neighbor? And the lawyer replied, well, the one who showed mercy.

And Jesus said, go and do likewise when we understand the text.