This week we're sitting with the Parable of the Good Samaritan—one of the most familiar stories Jesus told, and one of the most quietly demanding.
A lawyer asked Jesus a question meant to justify himself: "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus didn't answer with a definition. He answered with a story.
The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament, available with Bible Gateway Plus, names what Jesus is doing:
Jesus, however, shatters the common conception of a neighbor by telling a parable in which a despised Samaritan turns out to be the true neighbor because he reaches out in love and self-sacrifice to his enemy.
That's the reversal at the heart of this parable. Not a definition of neighbor—a demonstration of one.
Here's the moment it turns:
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. Luke 10:33 (NIV)
He took pity on him.
Pity. Compassion. Not obligation. Not duty—the kind of mercy that crosses every boundary love might be tempted to draw.
These questions are worth sitting with before you move on:
- When I encounter someone in need, what keeps me from stopping and showing mercy?
- What is one concrete act of compassion I can offer this week?
