Monday Thoughts: Parable of Good Samaritan

It seems that every time I go through the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it seems more and more revolutionary to me. Most people use it today to rail against "religious" people, a cultural reading that fits with some current trends. But I think there's more bite here than an excuse not to go to church.

1. I think most people know that Samaritans were not thought well of by Jews. What they may not know is that they had good reason to consider them less than "kosher" on the basis of the Old Testament:

a. They had a different Bible--the Samaritan Pentateuch.
b. They did not agree with the Jewish books of Samuel-Kings or with the Jerusalem temple.
c. They were syncretistic in their religion, including some polytheistic elements.
d. At times they had opposed the Jews politically.

2. The set up for the parable is "Who is my neighbor?" "Who do I have to love as myself?" The parable does not necessarily approve of the Samaritan in the light of the things above, although it clearly approves of the way he acts in this situation.

The take away seems to be that we must love everyone, including the person we least may want to love. This does not necessarily mean that we approve of their actions or their beliefs. But we must love them. Picture the person you least want to love. That is perhaps the person this parable bids you to love.

3. One of the blind spots of the "anti-religious" interpretation of this parable is that Pharisees are not mentioned. There is a reason why the "bad guys" in this parable are a Levite and priest. It is because these individuals were bound by the Jewish law--that is, by the Old Testament. They avoid the mugged person not because they are hypocrites but precisely because they are doing what they think the Bible requires of them.

In short, the priest and Levites are absolutists, fundamentalists, in their keeping of the Jewish law. They make no exceptions. Jesus, in effect, is saying that the life of others trumps the purity codes of the Bible.

The problem with the priest and Levite is not that they are religious but that they do not have the right priorities in their religion.