Imagine preaching on the same parable, to the same group of 75-100 people, eight times in a row, in just four days. Now imagine that group being made up mostly of adolescents ages 12-18.
Yep. That was me.
And it was awesome! I had a wonderful time with the kids, and I gained lots of new insight into Jesus’ parable, The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Here are a few of the tidbits I shared that week.
The conversation that prompted the parable
Just before Jesus tells the parable, a lawyer asks Christ what it would take to gain eternal life. Jesus throws the question back to him, asking, “What does scripture teach?” In response, the lawyer quotes two biblical texts. The first is a verse from the Shema (a passage from Deuteronomy that all good Jewish children learned from birth) paired with a passage from Leviticus (equally well known to the associates of Jesus).
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:4
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18
Setting
The setting for the parable is the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. This road, it’s crazy steep; like over half a mile descent in just 15-20 miles. Also, it was widely known as a danger zone; robbers hung out there all the time. And did you know that it was not uncommon for priests and Levites to live in Jericho and work in Jerusalem, travelling that road to get from home to temple and back again? (I didn’t.)
Precursor to the parable?
Then there’s this: 2 Chronicles 28:5-15 a text that Jesus most definitely knew when he told the story of The Good Samaritan. Read it when you can, but for the moment, let me just summarize it for you. Some soldiers from the North (the Kingdom of Israel—capital city, Samaria) captured a whole bunch of folks from the South (the Kingdom of Judah—capital city, Jerusalem). They weren’t nice to them. God didn’t like that, so God called a guy named Oded to shake his prophetic finger at Israel and tell them to get it together. The offending soldiers, Samaritans, responded like this:
“. . . those who were mentioned by name got up and took the captives, and . . . they clothed all that were naked among them; they clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them; and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kindred at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.” (2 Chronicles 28:15)
Could it be that Jesus, a lifelong student of scripture, took an ancient story and repurposed it for first century listeners? I mean, we can’t know for sure, but what a cool thing to consider, right?
Reflection
During those focused days, I learned lots of little details and interesting facts about The Good Samaritan. I also learned something far more important. I’ve read this parable many times; but only through this experience did I realized that I had misunderstood something about Jesus’ answer. See, in my mind, Jesus said that the people you serve (the people in need–those people) are your neighbors. But that’s not what the parable teaches. No. Jesus says, “Neighbors are those who act with compassion.” Neighbors, according to Jesus, are people who actually see need and respond. Neighbors are those who cross boundaries to show compassion. Neighbors are ones who behave as if your value is equal to their own.
Jesus says if you want eternal life, then love God so much that your heart spills over with that love and splashes up on your neighbor; because loving others is how you get to experience the Kingdom of God—on earth, just as it is in heaven.
