The Good Samaritan

Many of us will have heard Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan. A man has been attacked by robbers and left bleeding by the roadside. Two men walk by on separate occasions – men whose position in life would make you think they might help – but even though they saw the injured man, they did nothing.

Along comes a Samaritan who does everything he can to help the injured man. In Jesus’ day, the Samaritans were hated by the Jews on religious grounds, so for a Samaritan to be the hero of this story was quite confronting for them.

The surface message that we should be prepared to help others in need is a good one, and harmonises with Jesus’ teaching.

But there is more to this story. You see, Jesus was hated by the authorities in his day. Even though he was a Jew, they didn’t like the new religion he was teaching. They hated him so much that they had him put to death! So in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus is actually referring to himself. Despised by his own people, they couldn’t see that he was the one – the only one – who can save all of us from the ‘injury’ (our dying body) we each have.

Because Jesus didn’t buy into discrimination, he actually told a Samaritan woman that he was our Saviour. He met her at a well where she was drawing up water in a bucket.

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  (John 4:13-14 NIV)

The Bible contains all the information you need to be saved from the problems of this life.