The Good Samaritan – Luke 10:30-35

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’”

I don’t know how many times I have heard this story, and never realized that not only is this a story about helping one’s neighbor no matter what it might cost. It is actually a story about spiritual purity.

You know the setting. The Samaritans were despised by the Judeans, which is part of why Christ picks a Samaritan as a role model. Any person, including Levites and Priests would be considered ritually impure until nightfall if they touched anything that was dead. That same Law was adhered to by the Samaritans, so the Samaritan risked the same ritual impurity. The Priest and the Levite couldn’t know if the man was dead, so they didn’t do anything. But they were so stuck up that they didn’t even stop to check if the man was dead. Their spiritual purity was more important to them than the safety of another, so they walked by.

Not so the Samaritan. Why? What’s the point he is making? The point that spiritual purity comes from the in-side, not from the out-side. We don’t maintain our spiritual purity by socializing with those within our own group only, we maintain spirtual purity by obeying the command given to us: “love thy neighbor as thyself…” (Leviticus 19:18).

“If you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions.”

How are you going to know what mettle your faith is made of if you never step out and interact with that which challenges it? How can you profess spiritual purity if you believe you will be “contaminated” if you see all people as equally your brothers and sisters regardless what THEY profess, how THEY live, what are their status before God?

Blessings,
Henry