The phrase “good Samaritan” does not appear in the Bible, at least not in the actual text, but the concept is there.
Jesus gives a parable, that many people call the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).
A Samaritan, by the way, is an ethnic group that Jews looked down upon, so the idea of calling a Samaritan good or making him the hero, would be an anathema to Jesus’s main audience of Hebrew people.
This is how the parable of the Good Samaritan goes.
Robbers beat up a man and leave him for dead.
A religious leader (a priest) walks by and ignores the man. Later another religious person (a Levite) does the same.
It could be they’re in a hurry or that helping this hurting stranger will somehow cause them to break one of their religious rules. Or it may be that they just don’t care. Regardless they fail to help their neighbor in need.
Then a religious outcast (a Samaritan) comes upon the wounded man. The Samaritan attends to the man’s injuries, takes him to a safe place, and pays someone to look after him.
“Which of these three men,” Jesus asks, “was a good neighbor to the hurting man?”
The answer is the Samaritan, but the religious theologian can’t bring himself to say that word out loud. Instead he merely says, “the one who showed mercy.”
Key passage about the Good Samaritan: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:36-37, NIV).
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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