Jesus was a story teller

JESUS WAS A STORY TELLER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 10:37 And Jesus saidunto him, Go, and do thou
likewise.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The GoodSamaritan
The story of the goodSamaritanis one of our Lord’s greatestand most typical
parables. It is so simple that a child can read its meaning; yet it is in truth a
treatise on practicalethics more profound in thought and more powerful in
effectthan any other in the world. Is it too much to say that in these few
verses there is containedthe essentialtruth of man’s relations with his fellow-
men? Our very familiarity with the parable blinds us to the greatnessofits
mingled simplicity and depth and—let us add—to the greatnessofthe claim
which it makes upon us.1 [Note: Archbishop C. G. Lang, The Parables of
Jesus, 123.]
As we grow older and as things change around us, the old becomes evernew.
We look upon the record from a different point of sight, and the parts group
themselves togetherin new combinations. We look upon it in a new light, and
what perhaps we had not noticed before grows radiant with unexpected
brightness. It is so with the parable now before us. I suppose that we can
never read it thoughtfully without finding some fresh power in it to meet new
circumstances;and at the same time the central truths of the Divine narrative
always rise sharp and clear before us to crowneachspeciallessonwhichit
supplies.2 [Note:Bishop B. F. Westcott, Village Sermons, 342.]

In order to understand the parable we must first of all understand the
question with which the lawyer came to Jesus and His reply. Then will follow
the truths taught in the parable itself. When we understand the parable we
shall see the meaning and feel the force of the exhortation contained in the
text.
I
The First Questionand its Answer
The lawyerput two questions to Christ. The first question he came for the
purpose of asking, the secondhe found himself compelled to ask.
1. Christ was in Capernaum. And while He was there a certainlawyer stood
up and tempted Him, saying, “Master, whatshall I do to inherit eternal life?”
This lawyer was not a lawyer in our acceptationof the name; he was a man
versed in the precepts and ceremonies ofthe Mosaic law, and also in the
commandments and traditions with which meddling priests and scribes had
thickly incrusted that law until it became a burden too heavy to be borne. He
stoodup before the Saviour to tempt Him. The word clearlyshows—forits
meaning is always a bad one in the New Testament—thathis aim was not to
elicit truth but to lay a trap for Christ, to entangle Him in His talk. He was a
type of the captious critic, whom you canstill find in every street and lane of
the city. Nothing could be more solemnand profound than his question; and
nothing more unseemly and self-defeating than the spirit in which it was
propounded.

He who came to sneermay have departed to pray. Many an incautious seeker
has found more than he really sought. The light of conviction has broken in
upon men who were not even honestin their doubt. Paul was never more
furious againstJesus than on the day of his conversion. More than one scoffer
has gone to church to ridicule his wife’s religionand has gone home to beseech
his wife’s God for mercy. One of the most remarkable preachers of early
Methodism was convertedat a meeting which he attended solely for the
purpose of breaking it up. He meant to drive out the preacher, but the truth
hookedin his soul. Contestagainsttruth is never hopeful. The keenestblade is
soft metal againstthe “swordof the Spirit.” God is a terrible antagonist. So,
howeverbitter or cynicalthe spirit of this lawyer may have been, I am
confident he carriedaway in his soul the barb of conviction.1 [Note:G. C.
Peck, Visionand Task, 259.]
(1) The question is one which has been askedmany times, springing to the
heart and to the lips of many people, distressed, perhaps, by the consciousness
of wrong, or lifted up perhaps to catch, as it were, the faint murmurs of some
more beautiful world in some more beautiful time; or perhaps in the hour in
which, conscious ofthe transitoriness of this life and the hateful persistence of
material things, we have askedwhetherit is possible for us to take hold of
some abiding vitality which will remain with us among the perishing things of
this world.
The answerof Christ was in the form of a question, the bestform in most
caseswhere the motive of the inquirer lacks genuinenessand reality. “Whatis
written in the law? how readestthou?” Here was a lawyer, who read the law,
studied the law, expounded the law, and he was sentto the law for an answer
to his query. “How readestthou?” There seems to have been no hesitationin
his reply. With wonderful coolnesshe gives the condensedsummary and
essenceofthe moral law, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind;
and thy neighbour as thyself.”

(2) The man’s question was far too urgent and important to be dealt with
merely by describing what would be intellectually in harmony with the
question at issue, and therefore Jesus Christ immediately made an appealto
the man’s conscience. He said: “Thoushalt love the Lord thy God”;then said
Jesus Christ: “Thatis right; this do, go on doing this, and thou shalt live.”
That is the appealto the conscience.
When we were leaving Liverpool, after my father’s death, I went with my
mother, as she wished to bid “Good-bye” to Dr. McNeile. As we were leaving,
my mother mentioned that I was to be ordained before long. “Oh!” he said, “I
wish I had knownthat.” Then, coming near to me, he laid his hand upon my
shoulder, and he said, “At first you will think that you can do everything, then
you will be tempted to think that you can do nothing; but don’t let yourself be
castdown: you will learn that you can do what God has for you to do.”1
[Note:Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages ofMy Life, 117.]
2. Christ has touched the man’s conscience;He has pricked the side of his
moral sense, and you will see the indication of that in a moment. What is the
refuge—the almost continuous refuge—ofthose whose consciencesare just
slightly disturbed? The refuge usually is a resortto a dialecticalargument,
and therefore the man immediately begins to enter into an argument. He
wishes now to raise a side-issue, and he asks:“Who is my neighbour?”
(1) Here is a question which might be debated for days, for years, and yet not
be fully answered, for it was exactlyone of those questions which were so dear
to those who in the Jewishworld were anxious to make out that the privileges
of Israel still existed. It is written: “Thoushalt love thy neighbour”; but “if all
the Gentiles should fall into the sea you are not bound to draw them forth, for
these are not thy neighbours”—thatwas the idea of the Jew. Therefore the
question of what was the line of demarcation, the line of locality, or blood, or

personality, or geographicalor racialclaim that constituted the difference
betweenthe man who was a neighbour and the man who was not a
neighbour—those were the little dialecticalquestions which delighted the
Jewishmind; and so the man, feeling that Christ has winged a shaft right into
his conscience,begins immediately to turn the flank of the argument, as it
were, and to enter upon a dialecticaldiscussion. It is the refuge of the stricken
consciencewhichwishes to evade that which is brought straightbefore the
moral sense. This is the next step. When Jesus Christperceives that He has
strickenthis man’s conscience, andthat he does not realize that the real
difficulty of his life is that he has had magnificent theories which as yet have
not been fully translatedinto action, then, knowing that the man’s conscience
is awake, He begins to strike for the man’s heart.
(2) In answerto his secondquestion, “Who is my neighbour?” Christ told him
the parable of the goodSamaritan. Now considerthe deep principle of human
conduct—we might almostcall it the philosophy of life—which the parable
contains. We discoverthe clue to it when we notice that the parable does not
answerthe lawyer’s question. The question was:“Who is my neighbour?”
The parable tells what it is to be neighbourly. It seems to be a case oflogical
non sequitur. In fact, it is a case of the truth which is deeperthan logic. Our
Lord could not teachthe truth by answering the question. For the question
itself was wrong; it revealeda wrong temperament of mind. It was facing not
truth but fundamental error; to follow it would therefore have been to lose the
truth. The lawyer, steepedin all the traditions and instincts of his class,
wanted our Lord to give him a clear and precise definition of his neighbour;
to mark him out, and set him apart from the generalmass of mankind. But
definition means limitation. If our Lord had said, “This man is your
neighbour,” the inference in the lawyer’s mind would have been, “Thenthat
other is not my neighbour; I need not concernmyself with him; I can pass him
by.” But this conclusionwould have been the very error which Jesus came to
banish. He could put the man right only by declining to answerthe question;
by taking him to a wholly different standpoint, and making him start there,
namely—“Be in your own spirit neighbourly, and then every man will be your
neighbour.”

In our religious and moral difficulties we throw out some question as a sort of
challenge, persuading ourselves that it is really decisive. Often it remains
unanswered. We are disappointed, discomfited. Under such failure of their
self-chosentestquestions, men often give up their faith or surrender their
moral struggle. But, apart from the petulance, the impetuosity, or the effort to
“justify oneself” whicha little honest self-scrutiny would often discoverin our
questions, and which are sufficient to deprive them of any right to an answer,
God’s wisdom may see that they spring from a wrong attitude of mind, that
they are not facing the line of truth, and therefore may refuse to answerthem.
But all the while in some other way, at the moment perhaps not discerned, He
may be leading us to the truth. While our mind remains a blank as to that
particular difficulty which we thought of such crucial importance, He may be
bringing some other truth before us, or shaping our lives by some special
experience, so that after a time we shall find, perhaps without knowing how,
that that old question has been answeredin some other way, or has been
proved futile or superfluous.1 [Note: C. G. Lang.]
There are, who darkling and alone,
Would wish the weary night were gone,
Though dawning day should only show
The secretoftheir unknown woe;
Who pray for sharpestthrobs of pain

To ease them of doubt’s galling chain:
“Only disperse the cloud,” they cry,
“And if our fate be death, give light and let us die.”
Unwise I deem them, Lord, unmeet
To profit by Thy chastenings sweet,
For Thou wouldst have us linger still
Upon the verge of goodor ill,
That on Thy guiding hand unseen
Our individual hearts may lean,
And this our frail and foundering bark
Glide in the narrow wake ofThy beloved ark,
So be it, Lord; I know it best,

Though not as yet this waywardbreast
Beatquite in answerto Thy voice;
Yet surely I have made my choice:
I know not yet the promised bliss,
Know not if I shall win or miss;
So doubting, rather let me die,
Than close with aught beside, to last eternally.1 [Note:John Keble, The
Christian Year.]
II
The Lessons ofthe Parable
The road from Jerusalemto Jericho, which nature has blasted with sterility,
Christ has refreshed with a tale of the most delicious humanity. That tale, if
regardedmerely as a picture of the time—as painting with a few strokes its
most marked forms of character, anddistributing their genuine colours over

its peculiar prejudices, vices and miseries, possessesinimitable beauty. There
is the Priest, whom we are accustomedto see amid the stir of Jerusalem—the
very model of pompous piety, the master of sanctimonious ceremonies,
beating his breast in the market-place, and stretching forth his hands at the
corners of the streets, the scrupulous adviser of the people’s conscience.We
are invited to see him on the solitary ride. His back turned to the metropolis,
he is a saint no more; he performs no charities among the hills; delivered from
the public eye, he breaks loose fromthe moralities of life and the reverence of
God. There is the Levite, a kind of menial of the sacerdotalorder, whose
conduct towards “him that fell among thieves” is true to his usual mimicry of
the priests, with whose interests his own are interwoven, and whose habits and
hypocrisy he copies to the life. And there is the Samaritan—half foreigner,
half apostate, andmore wholly outcastthan if he had been idolater
downright—the object of irritating historical recollection, the living memorial
of captivity and schism, the centre of a hate both national and religious. With
no office, or dignified caste, like the others, to protect him from peril by their
sanctity, but traversing a hostile country, he stops to bind the wounds of a
stranger.
No one has made the “GoodSamaritan” so realto the soul’s eye as Watts in
his picture of that name. It ceasesto be a parable; it becomes a vivid incident
of daily life. The naked, dead-alive condition of the Jew who had fallen among
thieves, clinging with a despairing grip to the supporting arm of the stranger
who has come at the last extremity to his help; the benevolent face of that
strangerand alien—so full of pity, so capable to save, so prompt to interpose,
could not possibly have been presentedin a more graphic way; while the
lonely, desolate region, half-waybetweenJerusalemand Jericho, is depicted
with a magic touch which adds immensely to the pathos of the scene. The
whole story is seenas by a lightning flash, and it makes its appeal to the heart
in a manner which cannotbe resisted. “Go, anddo thou likewise”is felt with
irresistible powerby every one who gazes upon that moving sight, and the
selfishness that would make one pass by on the other side, and disclaim all
connexion with a human brother in distress, whose creedand conditions of life

are different from ours, becomes impossible.1 [Note:Hugh Macmillan, Life-
Work of George Frederic Watts, 163.]
A Priestand Levite both passedby,
Sent out perchance, to vainly try
To do some good, in fashion high,
Upon the road to Jericho.
But praises of Jerusalem
A wounded sinner would condemn.
This fallen soul was not for them,
Nor journeys down to Jericho.
Their words he would not understand,
Their solemn priestly reprimand.

He needed but a helping hand
Upon the road to Jericho.
So both passedby on the other side.
But soon, a man who dare not chide
Came by, then stopped to save and guide
This traveller to Jericho.
He helped him up; he cheeredhim on;
He bound his bruises one by one;
And ere the daylight quite was gone
Their backs were turned to Jericho.
And still the goodSamaritan,
With friendly words, as man to man,

And deeds which mercy far outran,
Stayed him who’d go to Jericho.
Oh, more than ritualistic power,
To guard and help in danger’s hour,
When clouds of sin and trouble lower
Upon the road to Jericho,
Is th’ goodSamaritan’s command.
And may we all wellunderstand
The value of this friendly hand,
Should we go down to Jericho.1 [Note:M. A. B. Evans, The MoonlightSonata,
45.]

1. Religious professionandservice have no necessaryconnexionwith real
goodness.—This lessongleams through the whole narrative. Here, for
example, we have two Jews, both of them occupying officialpositions in the
Temple worship and service, and yet neither of them possessedofthe common
sympathies of humanity, but both of them capable of seeing a fellow-mortalin
suffering, extreme and possibly fatal, without devising for him any succour.
Where should pity have been found if not in a priest of the Most High God?
What did his very priesthood signify? In what had it its birth? Was he not a
symbolic mediator between Godand men? Had he not to dealwith a service
which culminated in a mercy-seat? A true priesthoodimplies a compassionate
and forgiving God. A true priest was takenfrom among the people that he
might have compassionon the ignorant and on them that were out of the way.
As the representative of Him who pities the distressed, and whose tender
mercies are over all His works, it was natural to expect that he would have
succouredthe pillaged and bleeding traveller. But it is clearthat men may
have much to do with religious service and have nothing to do with religion.
The deadening influence of mere officialism was so keenlyfelt and fearedby
the Apostle Paul that he rousedinto activity every energy of his nature that he
might vanquish it. He was an apostle, but he was fearful lesthe should forget
that he was a man. He had to blow the trumpet, and summon others to the
battle with self and sin, but he was apprehensive lest he should neglecthis own
soul; and hence, with stirring earnestnessandsubduing pathos, he says, “I
therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
but I keepunder my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”1
[Note:E. Mellor, The Hem of Christ’s Garment, 185.]
ProfessorD. B. Towner, who was associatedwith Mr. Moody for the last
fourteen years of his life, says:“After his meetings in Oakland, Cal., in the
spring of 1899, whenI accompaniedhim as a singer, we took the train for
Santa Cruz. We were hardly seatedwhen in came a party of young men, one

of whom was considerablyunder the influence of liquor and very badly
bruised, with one eye completely closedand terribly discoloured. He at once
recognizedMr. Moody, and began to sing hymns and talk very loudly for his
benefit. Mr. Moodycaught up his bag and said, ‘Towner, let us get out of
this.’ When I reminded him that the other carwas full, he settleddown,
protesting that the company should not allow a drunken man to insult the
whole car in such a manner. Presentlythe conductorcame, and Mr. Moody
calledhis attention to the poor fellow in the rear of the car. The conductor
attended to his duty, and when he reachedthe young man he said a few words
to him in a low voice, and the fellow followed him into the baggagecar, where
he bathed his eye and bound it up with his handkerchief, after which the
young man soonfell asleep. Mr. Moody sat musing for a time, and then said,
‘Towner, that is an awful rebuke to me. I preached againstPharisaismlast
night to a crowd, and exhorted them to imitate the GoodSamaritan; and now
this morning God has given me an opportunity to practise what I preached,
and I find I have both feetin the shoes ofthe priest and Levite.’ He was
reticent all the way to Santa Cruz, but he told the incident that night to the
audience, confessing his humiliation.”2 [Note: W. R. Moody, The Life of
Dwight L. Moody, 439.]
2. Men may be neighbours though of different religious beliefs.—OurLord
does not saythat to be neighbourly a man must be of the Jewishreligion, or of
the Samaritanreligion, or of any other religion. The Priestand the Levite
were very religious;but, in spite of their religion, they were grossly
unneighbourly. Notwithstanding their high religious rank, they were as cold
and heartless as the most blatant infidel could be. On the other hand, the
Samaritan was neighbourly, not because he was a religious man, but right in
the teeth of his religious teaching. The best Samaritan lover of God, according
to his creed, was the best Samaritanhater of the religion of his neighbours in
Judæa; just as among ourselves, the most approved Protestantis by some
thought to be the most bitter anti-Catholic demonstrator.

A clergyman wrote to me, “I am a Calvinist; belief in the Incarnation appears
to me indispensable to salvation, and to my recognitionof any one as a child of
God. But I confess that the enormous difficulty of at leastapparent facts
staggersme; one of the most perfect characters I know is an agedUnitarian
lady; but then are there not most exemplary people to be found who deny all
Christianity in every shape and form? The more I think of it the more
perplexed I am.”1 [Note: J. Martineau, NationalDuties, 184.]
Some time ago, dismastedand waterloggedonthe boundless sea, a barque
had drifted about, until it was one thousand miles from any land, and all hope
of relief had died out from the minds of her starving crew. The cry, “A ship! a
ship!” roused the dying energies ofthe men, and at once shawls and shirts on
the ends of oars and boat-hooks were wavedas signals of distress. The
strangervesselchangedher course and bore down upon the miserable wreck.
The wretchedsufferers tried with united voice to send a cry of welcome over
the waves, andwhen they recognizedtheir country’s flag they rejoicedat the
sure prospectof relief. We cannotrealize what they felt as help drew near,
after having for days anticipated an awful death, but still less canwe imagine
their awful revulsion of feeling, and the howl of despair which rent the air,
when the vessel, sailing nearenough to see the ghastly wretches in their
destitute condition, stayed in its course, tackedabout, and sailedaway, leaving
them to their fate. Nor was this all; the same thing had been done by another
vesselpreviously, which also bore their country’s flag and colours. So they
endured the tortures of Tantalus, and abandonedthemselves to despair.
When death had thinned their numbers, and all were laid helpless, suddenly,
by God’s pity, a Norwegianvesselsailedacross theirpath. Compassionfilled
the hearts of the foreign sailors, and tender succourwas afforded them. Nor
was it until the last survivor had been carried on board the ship that they left
the wreck to drift away, a derelict coffin, with its unburied dead.2 [Note:W. J.
Townsend.]

3. Needis the measure of neighbourliness.—MaxMüllersaid that to the
Greek every man not speaking Greek was a barbarian; to the Jew every man
not circumcisedwas a Gentile; to the Muhammadan every man not believing
in the prophet of Arabia was an infidel. “It was Christianity that struck the
word ‘barbarian’ from the dictionaries of mankind and replacedit with the
word ‘brother.’ ” Under the influence of the teaching and spirit of Christ we
are coming to see that all men everywhere are neighbours, and that it is open
to us to do something to help the wounded pilgrim on life’s highway.
Longfellow spoke ofhis feelings at a banquet when so many were in the outer
darkness and in direst need. He spoke ofthe poverty-strickenmillions who
challenge our wine and bread; and impeach us all as traitors, the living and
the dead.
And wheneverI sit at the banquet,
Where the feastand song are high,
Amid the mirth, and the music
I can hear that awful cry.
And hollow and haggardfaces,
Look into the lighted hall,

And wastedhands are extended
To catch the crumbs that fall.
For within there is light and plenty,
And odours fill the air;
And without there is cold and darkness,
And hunger and despair.1 [Note: A. McLean, Where the Book Speaks,83.]
We cannotread John Woolman’s Journal without seeing how—to use his own
quaint and beautiful phraseology—hewas “baptizedinto a feeling sense ofall
conditions.” His sympathies knew neither barrier nor boundary. His devotion
braced itself to the expenditure of any energyand the endurance of any
sacrifice. Whereverhe discovereda weary and oppressedman or woman, he
recognizedhis neighbour and his brother. Whateverhe could do for these
forlorn and broken travellers, lying wounded by the wayside of life and
forgottenby the majority who passedby, was done cheerfully,
unpretentiously, graciously. “In Pharais,” Fiona Macleodtells as—and
Pharais is Celtic for Paradise—“there are no tears shed, though in the
remotestpart of it there is a grey pool, the weeping of all the world, fed
everlastinglyby the myriad eyes that every moment are somewhere wetwith
sorrow, or agony, or vain regret, or vain desire. And those who go there stoop,
and touch their eyelids with that greywater, and it is as balm to them, and
they go healed of their too greatjoy; and their songs thereafterare the
sweetestthat are sung in the ways of Pharais.” This was the paradise in which

John Woolman sojournedthrough all his fifty years of life. He was always
stooping and touching his eyelids with the grey water. His pity overleapedthe
fences and trammels which hem ours in.1 [Note: Alexander Smellie, in
Introduction to The Journal of John Woolman, xxiii.]
(1) Martineau denies that we are bound to be neighbourly to those who are in
need. He says, “We are under no obligation to love as ourselves the selfish, the
malignant, the depraved. Such are not our neighbours, but occupy the same
position with respectto us as the Priestand the Levite in the parable, from
whom, it is plain, Jesus withheld the appellation. That Christian morality is
hostile to personalresentment, that it softens the irritations of natural passion
by the memory of our common nature and common immortality, that it so
lifts the eye above the little orbit of our earthly life that we may serenelystudy
its seeming disorders, that it so enfolds us in consciousnessofuniversal
providence that nothing canseemtotally derangedin the affairs of men, is
perfectly true; but it does not stifle, it rather quickens our moral indignation
and aversionagainstwrong;and while it disposes us to patient and practical
exertion for the debased, while it creates forus new moral obligations towards
them, which no other religion ever recognized, it yet renders the sentiment of
interior affectionfor them more unattainable than ever. In spite of all the
refinements of a sentimental morality, it is impossible to separate in our
regard the agentand the act;disgust at intemperance is disgust at the
intemperate; aversionto hypocrisy is aversionto the hypocrite; indignation at
tyranny is indignation at the tyrant. That honour, which, for the sake ofour
universal Father, is due to all men, that respectwhich, in considerationof its
greatfuturity, is to be rendered to every human soul, and that promptitude of
beneficent effort which, in hope of abating misery, must be ready for every
occasion, are never to be withheld from natures the most lost; but emotion of
love like that which springs upward to God, the affectionwhich even our self-
respectmust not be permitted to exceed, is too holy to be squandered on any
but those who bear on them the signature of Divine approval.”1 [Note:J.
Martineau, National Duties, 183.]

(2) But on the other hand let us hear what Dr. Whyte has to say: “It has been
said of Goethe that, like this Priestand this Levite, he kept well out of sight of
stripped and wounded and half-dead men. I hope it is not true of that great
intellectual man. At any rate it is not true of Jesus Christ. ForHe comes and
He goes up and down all the bloody passes ofhuman life, actually looking for
wounded and half-dead men, and for none else, till He may well bearthe
name of The one and only entirely Goodand True Samaritan. They are here
to whom He has said it and done it. ‘When I passedby thee, and saw thee
wounded and half-dead, I said unto thee when thou wastin thy blood, Live;
yea, I said unto thee when thou wastin thy blood, Live. Now when I passedby
thee, and lookedupon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. Then washedI
thee with water, and I anointed thee with oil.’ And we ourselves are the proof
of it.”2 [Note:A. Whyte, Our Lord’s Characters, 237.]
O Christ the Life, look on me where I lie
Ready to die:
O GoodSamaritan, nay, pass not by.
O Christ, my Life, pour in Thine oil and wine
To keepme Thine;
Me everThine, and Thee for ever mine.
Watch by Thy saints and sinners, watch by all

Thy greatand small:
Once Thou didst callus all,—O Lord, recall.
Think how Thy saints love sinners, how they pray
And hope alway,
And thereby grow more like Thee day by day.
O Saint of saints, if those with prayer and vow
Succourus now.…
It was not they died for us, it was Thou.3 [Note:Christina G. Rossetti, Verses,
207.]
4. Neighbourliness means sacrifice.—Itis not difficult to imagine that the
priest who passedthe wounded man so heartlesslymight say to himself, “Poor
man! he has been roughly handled by some highwaymen, but he has not long
to live now, that is clear, and he might as well die where he is as anywhere
else.” Orhe might say: “Ah! this is a pitiable case;but really it is not the place
for any man to linger in; and if I encumber myself with the care of him, the
robbers, who may even now be hiding beneath some bush or behind some

rock, may swooplike vultures down on me, and make of me another victim.”
Or he might say: “I am anxious to get home, and if I charge myself with the
duty of taking this poor man to Jericho, it will greatly retard my progress.”
All of which means that he would have been neighbour to him that fell among
thieves if it had costhim nothing—if it had left untouched his time, his
comfort, and his ease. And there are thousands who would be neighbours on
the same easyconditions, but such is not the spirit which our Saviour
commends. The man who would be a followerof the goodSamaritanmust be
one who is endowedwith the spirit of sacrifice.
January 23rd, 1827.—Sleptill, not having been abroad these eight days. Then
a dead sleepin the morning, and when the awakening comes, a strong feeling
how well I could dispense with it for once and forever. This passesaway,
however, as better and more dutiful thoughts arise in my mind. I know not if
my imagination has flagged;probably it has; but at leastmy powers of labour
have not diminished during the lastmelancholy week.… Wrote till twelve
a.m., finishing half of what I call a goodday’s work—tenpages ofprint, or
rather twelve. Then walkedin Princes Streetpleasure-groundwith Good
Samaritan James Skene, the only one among my numerous friends who can
properly be termed amicus curarum mearum, others being too busy or too
gay, and severalbeing estrangedby habit.1 [Note: Journalof Sir Walter Scott,
90.]
III
The Exhortation
Now look more narrowly at the words of the text. Their exposition is the story
which precedes, with its circumstances andits lessons.

“And Jesus saidunto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”This is the only human
example commended to us. In what the Samaritan did our Lord saw no flaw.
The Samaritan is for all times the model neighbour. What was it in the
conduct of the Samaritanthat won from our Lord this unique eulogium? It
was the all-round love of a neighbour. He gave time, service, money’s worth,
money. He gave everything. He kept back nothing. He grudged nothing. The
Samaritan’s benevolence was all-rounded. He by the wayside had no further
claim upon the Samaritan than this—he was a man.
1. Thus we have, first of all, an encouragementto a life of service like the
Samaritan’s. Considerthe characterofthis service.
(1) It is unselfish.—There is a compassionwhich is selfish;and it is very
common. Its motive sometimes is the indulgence of sentiment. The sentiment
of compassionlike other natural emotions craves satisfaction. Itis really
selfishwhen its primary motive is to satisfy itself rather than the need of its
recipient. The charity which relieves itself by giving an alms to any beggar
who asks, withoutthought or care for his realneed, which does not consider
that that alms may be a means of encouraging thriftlessness andimposture,
may be thus a cruel wrong both to the beggarhimself and to the really
deserving poor; the charity which, moved by some sentimental appeal, takes
no trouble to see whether that appealis true to facts, or likely to do more
harm than good—this charity is fundamentally false;it is a form of self-
indulgence. Or, again, the motive may be one’s own spiritual good. To give an
alms as a means of relieving one’s conscience, orof acquiring credit in the
eyes of God, is really a selfish act. It is not admirable, it is merely pitiable, to
see the crowds of beggars atsome church door in Italy, maintained in beggary
rather than lifted out of it, encouragedto trade in the apparatus of misery, by
the alms of the faithful. True charity, true neighbourliness, considers first not
the indulgence of sentiment or the satisfactionofconscience, but the true need
of the poor. And it has come to pass, through the abuse of charity, that the

true need of the poor is often best servedby withholding, not giving, the
heedless and casualdole.
It is simply and sternly impossible for the English public, at this moment, to
understand any thoughtful writing,—so incapable of thought has it become in
its insanity of avarice. Happily, our disease is, as yet, little worse than this
incapacity of thought; it is not corruption of the inner nature; we ring true
still when anything strikes home to us; and though the idea that everything
should “pay” has infected our every purpose so deeply, that even when we
would play the GoodSamaritan, we never take out our twopence and give
them to the host without saying, “When I come againthou shalt give me
fourpence,” there is a capacityof noble passionleft in our heart’s core.1
[Note:Ruskin, Sesame andLilies (Works, i. 31).]
(2) It is thorough.—The service ofthe goodSamaritan was thoroughgoing. We
modern Samaritans reflectthat the inn stands hard by, where this patient can
get every attention, and that it must be his own fault if he does not go there; so
we ride on with the comforting conclusionthat “so much is being done for
people of that class.”The ancientSamaritan did not pause to think whether
he would soilhis hands or stain his saddle. He understood that the rights of
property must give way before the claims of necessity. His beastwas “his
own” no longer;for the time being it belongedto the man who was half dead.
Here is the Christian law of possession. The thieves had said, “All thine is
ours,” and had snatchedit violently. The Samaritan says, “All mine is thine,”
and yields it generously;because—as Philip Sidney said when he gave up his
cup of cold waterto the dying soldier—“Thynecessityis greaterthan mine.”
“Some years ago I lay ill in San Francisco, anobscure journalist, quite
friendless. Stevenson, who knew me slightly, came to my bedside and said, “I
suppose you are like all of us, you don’t keepyour money. Now, if a little loan,
as betweenone man of letters and another—eh?” This to a lad writing

rubbish for a vulgar sheetin California!”2 [Note:Quoted from The Times by
Graham Balfour in Life of R. L. Stevenson, ii. 40.]
(3) It is personal.—The servicewhichthe Samaritan rendered was personal.
He himself bound up the wounds, himself set the strangeron his own beast,
himself brought him to the inn and took care of him. Charity is always
incomplete unless it involves this element of personalservice. We have become
too much accustomedto acting the neighbour by deputy. We give money: we
leave it to others to give personalservice. Of course, to a large extent this is a
necessityofmodern life; and we can keepeven this second-handcharity at
leastin touch with true principles if we take pains to follow our money with
personalinterest and sympathy. But we must never be satisfiedwith this. No
amount of subscriptions cancompensate for this want of the touch of person
with person; of heart reaching heart; of will encouraging and strengthening
will. Each one of us ought to be able to think at once of some individual or
family in the ranks of the poor, the sick, the distressed, whomby personal
thought and care and act we are trying to comfortand cheerand raise.
“What is to be done for the unsaved masses?”Mr. Moody askedwhile in
Sheffield. In answering his own inquiry, he said that he had found a spiritual
famine in England such as he had never dreamed of. “Here, for instance, in
this town of Sheffield,” he said, “I am told that there are one hundred and
fifty thousand people who not only never go near a place of worship, but for
whom there is actually no church accommodationprovided, even if they were
willing to take advantage of it. It seems to me, if there be upon God’s earth
one blackersight than these thousands of Christless and gracelesssouls, it is
the thousands of dead and slumbering Christians living in their very midst,
rubbing shoulders with them every day upon the streets, and never so much
as lifting up a little finger to warn them of death and eternity and judgment to
come. Talk of being sickenedat the sight of the world’s degradation, ah! let
those of us who are Christian hide our faces because ofour own, and pray
God to deliver us from the guilt of the world’s blood. I believe that if there is

one thing which pierces the Master’s heartwith unutterable grief, it is not the
world’s iniquity but the Church’s indifference.” He then argued that every
Christian man and woman should feelthat the question was not one for
ministers and elders and deacons alone, but for them as well. “It is not
enough,” he said, “to give alms; personalservice is necessary. I may hire a
man to do some work, but I can never hire a man to do my work. Alone before
God I must answerfor that, and so must we all.”1 [Note:W. R. Moody, The
Life of Dwight L. Moody, 195.]
2. Lay emphasis on the necessityofdoing—“go, and do thou likewise.”Which
of us has never allowedsensibility of feeling to pass muster with his conscience
in the place of merciful action? The glow which warms our hearts when we
are rousedby a tale of oppression, orshed a tear over another’s woe, is so like
the comfortof a self-approving conscience whena duty has been done that we
need reminding roughly that in Heaven’s chanceryfine feeling counts for
nothing; that it is precious only so far as it leads to noble action; that the
sensibility which ends where it began makes inactionmore inexcusable;that
Faith’s meanestdeed more favour wears
Where lives and hearts are weighed
Than keenestfeelings, choicestprayers,
Which bloom their hour and fade.

Action is the test of feelings. The pity raised in us by the sight of suffering
must pass into the prompt energy which relieves it before we can claim a place
in that noble army typified by the Good Samaritan.
Shall I tell you what I saw the other day? It made me laugh, and yet it made
me sad. I saw, in one of your parks, a poor little raggedboy, who was
evidently hungry, and who was anxious to appeal successfullyto the pity of
the public. He was met by a tall, lean, cleanman, who sethis long, bony
fingers togetherstiffly and impressively, and lectured the child in very
suitable language. I overheardhim say, “This is not proper. You ought to
have been at school;you should not be prowling about here in this way; there
are places provided for such as you, and I earnestlyadvise you to getaway
from this course of life.” Every word he said was grammaticallycorrect, and
sociallyvery true. As he was delivering his frosty lecture to the poor lad, there
came a boy—a school-boyhastening to school—who was carrying a large
lump of bread and butter in his hand, while he was eating as only school-boys
can eat;and when he saw the poor raggedchild, he pulled his bread and
butter in two, put one half into the boy’s hand, and went on. “Notevery one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” That
boy who gave his bread and butter awaywill stand a better chance than the
ninety-nine legallyupright, who apparently need no repentance!1 [Note:
JosephParker.]
3. Finally lay stress on the example—“go, anddo thou likewise”—forhere lies
the moral of the whole. Schooland train the sensibility and tenderness of
heart which God has given to you into the practice of active mercy towards
those who stand in need of it! Do, by ready and ungrudging bounty if God has
blessedyou with affluence; in any case by active kindness towards the sick
and sorrowing and helpless who shall cross your path, strive in some small
measure to pay back to Christ His own unspeakable compassionupon you!
For the one prevision of earth’s final judgment let fall by Him in talk with His
disciples measures acceptance orrejection, wealor woe, the right hand or the

left, not by Godward consciousness,integrity of conduct, purity of life, but
solelyby the loving succourextended to the wounded on life’s way, to the
suffering, the needy, the forlorn, imaged in whom He saw, and commanded
them to see, Himself.
This day lastyear Livingstone died—a Scotchmanand a Christian, loving
God and his neighbour, in the heart of Africa. “Go thou and do likewise!”—
Mackay’s Diary, Berlin, May 4th, 1874.1[Note:Mackayof Uganda, 10.]
Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on;
’Twas not given for thee alone,
Pass it on;
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another’s tears,
Till in heav’n the deed appears—
Pass it on.

Did you hear the loving word?
Pass it on;
Like the singing of a bird?
Pass it on;
Let its music live and grow,
Let it cheeranother’s woe;
You have reaped what others sow,
Pass it on.
’Twas the sunshine of a smile,
Pass it on;
Staying but a little while!

Pass it on;
April beam, the little thing,
Still it makes the flow’rs of spring,
Makes the silent birds to sing—
Pass it on.
Have you found the heav’nly light?
Pass it on;
Souls are groping in the night,
Daylight gone;
Hold thy lighted lamp on high,
Be a star in some one’s sky,
He may live who else would die—

Pass it on.
Be not selfish in thy greed,
Pass it on;
Look upon thy brother’s need,
Pass it on;
Live for self, you live in vain;
Live for Christ, you live again;
Live for Him, with Him you reign—
Pass it on.
The GoodSamaritan

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The GoodSamaritan, and the GoodPart
R.M. Edgar
Luke 10:25-42
And, behold, a certain lawyerstoodup, and tempted him, saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
From the successofthe seventy we now pass to the temptation of the Master.
The tempter is a lawyer, one who, therefore, professedspecialacquaintance
with the letter and spirit of the Divine Law. He thinks he may find accusation
againstJesus by inquiring from him the way of life. His question implies the
belief on the lawyer's part that he can win his own way to heaven. But Jesus,
when he asks,"Master, whatshall I do to inherit eternal life?" puts it to
himself to answer, eliciting from the lawyer the reply, "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart," etc. Jesus then drives home the arrow of
conviction by saying, "Thou hast answeredright: this do, and thou shalt live."
The lawyer, if he will only analyze his life fairly, must admit that he has failed
to fulfill the Law. This suggests -
I. THE EXPERIENCEOF CHRIST IN FULFILLING THE LAW. When our
Lord said to 'the lawyer, "This do, and thou shalt live," he was giving forth
his ownexperience. He was himself loving God with all his heart, and all his
soul, and all his strength, and all his mind; he was also loving his neighbor as
himself; and he found and felt that this was life, and life everlasting too.
Doubtless he might have to die, but beyond death there was the compensation
of resurrection. He was entitled to life on the ground of law, since he had kept
it in every particular. What the lawyerimagined he could do, Jesus had

actually done. He had acquired the right, not on his own behalf merely, but
also on behalf of all who trust in him, to the life everlasting. The obedience of
Jesus to Law was the perfectobedience required.
II. THE ATTEMPT AT SELF-JUSTIFICATION ON THE LAWYER'S
PART. He seems to have thought that his attitude to God was unimpeachable;
but he was not so clearabout having fulfilled his duty by his neighbor. Hence
he askedJesus to define "neighborhood." The Jew had the notion that,
because he belonged to the chosenpeople, he had to show neighbourliness only
to those of his own nation; all the restwere "dogs." And this lawyerhad been
as proud and as contemptuous as any of his tribe. Hence he wants from Jesus
some definition of who his neighbor is, that he may estimate his own duty and
the patriotism of Christ. The excuses in which selfishmen indulge are
marvellous. They are ready on any pretext to defend their selfishness.
III. JESUS DEFINES "NEIGHBOURHOOD" BYTHE PRECIOUS
PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN, And here we have four
characters brought before us. Let us look at them in order.
1. The half-murdered traveler. The road from Jerusalemto Jericho has been
from time immemorial infested by robbers. It is so still. This poor traveler has
met the cruel fate of many before and since Christ's time. The highwaymen
have robbed him of all he had, and almostof his life too. It is a case of
unmistakable need. There is no possibility of deceptionin the circumstances.
2. The heartless priest. Coming down from the holy services at the temple, he
so far forgets himself as to ignore the half-murdered man's wants, and pass by
on the other side. The aristocratismof office has steeledhis heart against
those charitable impulses which the case shouldhave evoked.

3. The heartless Levite. The sole difference betweenthese two officials was
that the Levite seems to have crossedthe road, to have lookedupon him, and
then, judging it a hopeless case, orone in which he could render no help,
passedby, like the priest, on the other side.
4. The good Samaritan. This man might have said, "This poor fellow is one of
those Jews, who wilt have no dealings with us Samaritans;he has often, most
likely, calledus dogs;he deserves no care." Butinstead of looking for excuses
for neglecting the sufferer, he gives his heart free play, and owns the poor
man as a brother in distress. The result is he dismounts, and pours into his
wounds oil and wine - the bestremedies, the one to keepdown inflammation,
and the other to heal; and, having carefully bound up his wounds, he sets him
on his own beastand brings him to the nearestinn and has him comfortably
lodged. The next day he pays the bill, and becomes the innkeeper's security
for anything more the patient may require until he is sound and well. Here is
neighbourliness. Our neighbor is whoeveris laid in our path by Providence
and really needs our help. If we look carefully into the case, as the Samaritan
here did, and conclude that it is a case ofreal need, then we should recognize
in the needy one our neighbor, and have mercy on him. As Jesus dismisses the
lawyer with this ideal neighbourliness before him, the self-justificationmust
have passedcompletelyaway. Now, we have here the cosmopolitanspirit
which Christianity fosters, and which is above and beyond the fellow-
citizenship and patriotism which alone earliercivilizations fostered. Christ
taught his people to be "citizens of the world," and to recognize in every
needy human being a" man and a brother." It was in this spirit our Lord
himself lived, and so he was able to inculcate it powerfully upon his people.
IV. THE GOOD PART AS DEFINED AT BETHANY. (Vers. 35-42.)And
here we have to notice the two types of characterpresentedto the Lord.

1. Martha, to whom life is a perpetual worry and weariness. She was a
Christian in the real sense, forshe loved her Lord; but she was a Christian
who had not escapedfrom the fuss and weariness whichmake up the life of so
many. Besides, allher bustle was really under a false impression, that the
greatestcompliment she could pay her Masterwas to give him a goodphysical
feast. She never fanciedthat a goodlistener like Mary complimented the
Mastermore than any repastcould. Hence Martha's fret and weariness.
2. Mary, to whom life is a calm fulfillment of her Master's will. The goodpart
Mary chose was that of a scholarat Christ's feet, whose wordis deemed
Mary's law. This one idea made life simple and supremely blessed. Let us
make sure of it, and the fret and worry of life shall cease,and an orderly and
blessedprocessionof duties will make us experience a foretaste ofheaven. The
following poem expressesas beautifully as possible the thought of this
passage;it is entitled "Cumbered about much Serving:" -
"Christ never asks ofus such busy labor
As leaves no time for resting at his feet;
The waiting attitude of expectation
He ofttimes counts a service most complete.
"He sometimes wants our ear - our rapt attention,
That he some sweetestsecretmay impart;
Tis always in the time of deepestsilence
That heart finds deepestfellowship with heart.
"We sometimes wonderwhy our Lord doth place us

Within a sphere so narrow, so obscure,
That nothing we call work can find an entrance
There's only room to suffer - to endure!
"Well. God loves patience!Souls that dwell in stillness,
Doing the little things, or resting quite,
May just as perfectly fulfill their mission,
Be just as useful in the Father's sight,
"As they who grapple with some giant evil,
Clearing a path that every eye may see!
Our Saviorcares for cheerful acquiescence
Rather than for a busy ministry.
"And yet he does love service, where 'tis given
By grateful love that clothes itself in deed;
But work that's done beneath the scourge ofduty,
Be sure to such he gives but little heed.
"Then seek to please him, whatsoe'erhe bids thee!
Whether to do - to suffer - to lie still!
Twill matter little by what path he led us,
If in it all we sought to do his will."

(From Randolph's' At the Beautiful Gate.')R.M.E.
A GoodSamaritan
Biblical Illustrator
Luke 10:29-37
But he, willing to justify himself, saidto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?…
Oberlin was travelling on one occasionfrom Strasbourg. It was in winter. The
ground was deeply coveredwith snow, and the roads were almost impassable.
He had reachedthe middle of his journey, and was so exhaustedthat he could
stand up no longer. He commended himself to God, and yielded to what he felt
to be the sleepof death. He knew not how long he slept, but suddenly became
conscious ofsome one rousing him up. Before him stooda waggon-driver, the
waggonnot far away. He gave him a little wine and food, and the spirit of life
returned. He then helped him on the waggon, andbrought him to the next
village. The rescuedman was profuse in his thanks, and offered money, which
his benefactorrefused. "It is only a duty to help one another," said the
waggoner;"and it is the next thing to an insult to offer a reward for such a
service." "Then," repliedOberlin, "atleasttell me your name, that I may
have you in thankful remembrance before God." "I see,"saidthe waggoner, "
that you are a minister of the gospel. Pleasetellme the name of the good
Samaritan." "That," saidOberlin, "I cannot do, for it was not put on
record." "Then," replied the waggoner, "until you cantell me his name,
permit me to withhold mine."

A GoodSamaritan Among the Maoris
Luke 10:29-37
In our journeyings, says the Waikato Times, a newspaperpublished in New
Zealand, we have to record the various traits of man be he European or Maori
— all have to be faithfully noticedby our pen. Whether his characteristicsare
of the animal or intellectual kind, whether his sympathies are with the refined
or debased. In this instance it is our greatpleasure to have to recordone of the
most Christian and goodSamaritanlike acts that we remember to have read
or published. A few nights ago — a bitter cold night it was — Amopui, a
native, was returning to Cambridge, and when some distance from the
township saw the prostrate form of a man — a European— on the road. It
appears that the poor fellow, with one leg only, had travelled overland all the
way from Napier, had crossedcreeks,surmounted hills, and threaded his way
through the bush. But nature gave wayat last, and he fell, when Amopui
found him, utterly worn out, helpless and exhausted. But for this timely
assistance, CharlesParmeters (forthis was the European's name)would in all
probability never have seenthe light of another day. The Maorilifted him up,
and carried him into Cambridge, and those who know the heavy, sandy road
on the other side of the bridge can judge what the labour must have been.
Amopui took him to his tent, and attended to him the night through; but the
noble fellow's gooddeeds did not end here. In the morning he got a
subscription list, and by dint of perseverencecollectednearly £9, which he
handed over to the police authorities to be expended in sending the poor
cripple on to Auckland. Amopui is wellknown in Cambridge as being a
straightforwardand honest native, and will now more than ever be
universally respected. If there be no other recognitionin this sphere of this

goodaction, the story should find a corner in every paper and magazine in the
world, and should be printed in gold.
Backwardnessto GoodWorks
Bishop Horne.
Luke 10:29-37
I. The first and chief plea, under which men generally take shelter, is that of
inability, because ofstraitenedcircumstances, heavytaxes, &c. Before this
plea can be accepted, we must ask ourselves whetherthere be no unnecessary
expenses that we support, such as are unsuitable to our circumstances.
II. There are those that plead unsettled times, and an ill prospectof affairs
(whether wrongly or rightly, is not the case;but there are those that plead
these things) as impediments to the exercise ofcharity. Forin such an
uncertain world, who knows but that he may want to-morrow what he gives
to-day?
III. There are men sensible enough of their obligations to charity, and
resolved, some time or other, to discharge them; but they desire to be excused
from that duty for the present, and put it off, perhaps, to a will and a
deathbed, and think it sufficient if they begin to do goodin the world any time
before they leave it. Seldom do either of these proceedfrom a principle of
goodness;nor are they owing to a love of virtue, but to a fear of punishment.

IV. It is allegedthat the increase of charity tends often to the increasing and
multiplying the poor; and by that means proves a mischief to the
commonwealth, insteadof a support and benefit.
V. And lastthing (I shall mention) by which we are apt to excuse our
backwardnessto goodworks, is, the ill successthathath been observed to
attend well-designedcharities;with relation both to the objects on which they
are placed, and the hands through which they are conveyed. Our part is, to
choose outthe most deserving objects, and the most likely to answerthe ends
of our charity; and when that is done, all is done that lies in our power; the
rest must be left to Providence.
(Bishop Horne.)
Neighbourly Kindness
Luke 10:29-37
A fire having broken out in a village of Denmark, one of the inhabitants, a
poor man, was very active in affording assistance;but every endeavour to
extinguish the flames was in vain. At length he was told that his own house
was in danger, and that if he wished to save his furniture, not a moment was
to be lost. "There is something more precious," repliedhe, "that I must first

save. My poor sick neighbour is not able to help himself: he will be lost if I do
not assisthim. I am sure he relies upon me." He flew to his neighbour's house,
rushed, at the hazard of his life, through the flames, and conveyed the sick
man in his arms to a place of safety. A societyatCopenhagenshowedtheir
approbation of his conduct by presenting him with a silver cup filled with
Danish crowns.
Parable of the GoodSamaritan
H. M. Grout, D. D.
Luke 10:29-37
I. The Saviour here reminds us that IN THE WORLD THERE IS SORE
DISTRESS. Upon this man a band of ruffians rushed out: and, seizing, they
stripped him of his raiment, beat him, and left him half dead; and all, so far as
appears, with no fault of his own. There is poverty and pain and sorrow, for
which the sufferer is not, at leastdirectly, responsible. It must, however, be
owned that the chief woes ofthe world come of sin. There are no thieves and
robbers so cruel as worldliness and wrong. doing, irreligion and vice.
II. THERE ARE THOSE WHO TO ALL THIS PAY LITTLE HEED. "The
priest and the Levite were both in a hurry. They had been a month at
Jerusalem, and were expectedand wanted at home. Their wives and children
were anxiously waiting for them. The sun would soonbe down, and this was a
lonely road even by daylight. Neitherof them understood surgery, they could
not bind up a wound to save their lives. Moreover, the poor man, already half
dead, would be quite dead in an hour or two, and it was a pity to waste time

on a hopeless case.The robbers, too, might be back again. Then, the man
might die, and the person found near the body be chargedwith murder."
Goodexcuses, everyone! And so it comes to pass that the world's miseries go
unrelieved; the world's sins unrebuked; the world's perishing ones unsaved.
III. But, now, in contrastwith all this, our Saviour shows us that, IN THE
PRESENCE OF DISTRESS, TRUE LOVE, FORGETTING SELF,
HASTENS TO ITS RELIEF.
(H. M. Grout, D. D.)
Parable of the GoodSamaritan
J. Burns, D. D.
Luke 10:29-37
I. THE DISTRESSED CONDITION OF A FELLOW-CREATURE. Ofwhat
vileness men are capable — in some respects more to be dreaded than the
savage beastofprey that roams abroad in the forest.
II. THE EMBODIMENT OF SELFISHNESS IN TWO TRAVELLERS WHO
ARE PASSING BY.

III. AN EXHIBITION OF LOVE AND MERCYWHERE WE SHOULD
NOT HAVE EXPECTEDTO FIND IT.
1. The Samaritan's eye affectedhis heart.
2. His feet hastenedto the sufferer.
3. His hands ministered to him.
IV. THE INEVITABLE CONCLUSION to which the querulous lawyer was
forced.
1. Think of the Samaritan, and admire his spirit.
2. Have equally generous feelings towardall thy suffering fellow-creatures.
3. Imitate him when such circumstances shallbe presentedbefore thine
eyes.Learn—
1. The fallacy of that religion which is devoid of mercy and compassion.
2. See under what an awful delusion professors ofreligionmay live. As in the
case ofthe priest and Levite.

3. Cherish the spirit, and imitate the conduct of the Lord Jesus — "Who went
about doing good."
(J. Burns, D. D.)
Sympathy More than Pity
C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.
Luke 10:29-37
— "He set him on his own beast" — the one act in which the Samaritan's
Samaritanism was most deeply lodged, and most gently and suggestively
evinced. The Samaritan had nothing left him but to walk. So we conclude. The
weariness ofit denoted less to him than his co-traveller's comfortdenoted. His
own comfort was in having his companion comfortable. His consciousnesswas
of the other man. He became practically the other man for the time; felt his
bruises as his ownbruises; forgot that he was not working for himself in
working for him. He felt not for him, which is nothing but pity; but he felt
with him, he felt in him, which is sympathy and gospel. Becoming the other
man — that is Samaritanism: seeing with his eyes, feeling with his
sensibilities, subjectto his limitations, obnoxious to his exposures. Sympathy is
two hearts tugging at one load, bent beneath one sorrow.
(C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)

The GoodSamaritan
C. H. Spurgeon.
Luke 10:29-37
I. THE WORLD IS VERY FULL OF AFFLICTION,
1. Frequently the greaterafflictions are not occasionedby the fault of the
sufferer.
2. Very much distress is causedby the wickednessofothers.
3. Certain paths in life are peculiarly subjectto affliction. Our mines,
railways, and seas show a terrible roll of suffering and death. Many a
needlewoman's life is truly a path of blood.
II. THERE ARE MANY WHO NEVER RELIEVE AFFLICTION.
1. The two men here mentioned were brought to the spotby God's providence
on purpose to render aid to the sufferer.

2. They were both of them persons who ought to have relievedhim, because
they were very familiar with things which should have softenedtheir hearts.
3. They were, moreover, bound by their professionto have helped this man.
4. They were very well aware ofthe man's condition.
5. Yet they had capital excuses.
III. THE SAMARITAN IS A MODELFOR THOSE WHO DO HELP THE
AFFLICTED.
1. He is a model if we notice who the person was that he helped.
(1) One who could not repay him.
(2) A total stranger.
(3) One rejectedby his own people.
(4) One of a different faith from himself.
2. He is a model to us in the spirit in which he did his work.

(1) Without asking questions.
(2) Without attempting to shift the labour from himself on to others.
(3) Without any selfishfear.
(4) With self-denial.
(5) With greattenderness and care.
IV. WE HAVE A HIGHER MODELthan even the Samaritan — our Lord
Jesus Christ.
1. Our Lord Jesus Christhas done better than the goodSamaritan, because
our case was worse. We were not only half but altogetherdead in trespasses
and sins.
2. What the Samaritangave to the poor man was generous, but it is not
comparable to what the Lord Jesus has given to us. He gave him wine and oil;
but Jesus has given His heart's-blood to heal our wounds: he lent himself with
all his care and thoughtfulness; but Christ gave Himself even to the death for
us.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christlike Compassion
Dr. Talmage.
Luke 10:29-37
A goodmany years ago there laid in the streets of Richmond, Va., a man dead
drunk, his face exposedto the blistering noonday sun. A Christian woman
passedalong, lookedathim, and said, "Poorfellow." She took her
handkerchief and spread it over his face, and passedon. The man roused
himself up from his debauch, and began to look at the handkerchief, and, lo!
on it was the name of a highly respectable Christianwoman of the city of
Richmond. He went to her, he thanked her for her kindness;and that one
little deed savedhim for this life, and saved him for the life that is to come. He
was afterwardAttorney-General of the United States;but, higher than all, he
became the consecrateddisciple of Jesus Christ.
(Dr. Talmage.)
The GoodSamaritan
D. C. Hughes, M. A.
Luke 10:29-37

I. THE OCCASION OF THE PARABLE.
1. The generalcircumstances (vers. 25-28)
2. The specific question (ver. 29).
II. THE APTNESS OF THE PARABLE.
1. This parable shows the Divine idea of true neighbourliness.
2. This parable shows the grand principle and obligation of Christian
endeavour at home and abroad.
3. This parable shows the secretoftrue happiness.
(1) The robbers who stripped and wounded their victim did not become
happy in their deed.
(2) Neither priest nor Levite was happy in his cowardly selfishness.

(3) It was the good, benevolent, tender-hearted Samaritanwhose soul was
filled with a happifying satisfaction.Practicallessons:
1. Selfishness is not "the Divine ideal of a true and noble life.
2. Happiness is not an emotion, but the fruit of love.
3. The true goodSamaritan is Jesus Christ Himself.
(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The GoodSamaritan
J. R. Thomson, M. A.
Luke 10:29-37
I. A GRAPHIC PICTURE OF HUMAN NEED AND MISERY.
1. Much of man's suffering is inflicted by his fellow-man.

2. His condition, apart from aid, human and Divine, appears helpless and
hopeless.
II. A SAD ILLUSTRATION OF MAN'S TOO COMMON INDIFFERENCE
TO HIS FELLOW-MAN.
III. AN INSTRUCTIVE EXAMPLE OF TRUE CHARITY. Note the several
movements of benevolence, as exemplified in the story.
1. An observant eye.
2. A sensitive heart, that will not steelitself againsta neighbour's misfortunes,
saying, "All is owing to the operation of generallaws, and it is unreasonable to
allow one's self to be affectedby the inevitable afflictions of mankind."
3. An absence ofbigotry.
4. A ready hand, to carry out the benevolentdesires of the heart.
5. Self-forget-fulness andself-denial, leading to a disregardof personal
comfort and even of personalsafety.
6. A combination of tenderness and wisdom.

7. An endeavour to interest others in the work in which we are engaged
ourselves. As this Samaritan procured the services ofthe host, so many good
people multiply their own beneficence by calling forth that of others.
8. Liberality. There are occasions forgifts as well as for services;it is well to
be found responsive to such claims.
9. Foresight. A wise man will look forward, and considerhow that which is
begun may best be carriedon.
IV. A SUGGESTION OF THE DIVINE MOTIVE TO BENEVOLENCE.It is
vain to disconnectmorality from religion. Our relation to God governs out
relation to our fellow-creatures.
V. AN ILLUSTRATION OF REDEMPTION.
(J. R. Thomson, M. A.)
The GoodSamaritan
J. Wells, M. A.
Luke 10:29-37

This parable reveals in the brightest light —
I. THE CHRISTIAN'S HEART. It is like the Samaritan's as he stands over
yon panting, bleeding man: it is full of compassion. This word "compassion,"
as used by Christ, has the greatestforce and feeling in it. It means that His
whole body tingled, and thrilled, and was warmed with loving pity, as your
body was when you stoodover againstyour dying brother or sister, and felt as
you had never felt before. Very greatmust have been the Samaritan's
compassionwhen, without a moment's delay, he stoopedto the bleeding man.
We are weak and slow in Christ's work because we are weak in compassion. A
boy was showing me his model steam-engine, in which the steam was made by
a spirit-lamp. He lighted his lamp, but the engine moved not till a certain
temperature was reached. Compassionis the moving force in us, but it does
not move us till it grows hot within the heart. The Samaritan also reveals —
II. THE CHRISTIAN'S HAND. It is the ready agentof a compassionateheart.
First the heart, then the hand; that is the order in the kingdom. Watchthe
Samaritan's hand. It is not the hand of a sluggard. How quickly it moves!The
story gives us the idea of hearty haste. He did not linger till compassionwas
chilled by worldly prudence. He knew that his first thoughts were best. I dare
say he did not think about it at all: he just did it at once. A new book tells that
a Glasgowmerchant died lately without a will, leaving a widow, one son, and
two daughters. The sonin London receiveda telegram, came down the same
evening, and settled his father's fortune on his mother and sisters. He was
askedwhy he had been in such a hurry. "I dared not wait," was his noble
reply. "Had I waited, my resolutionmight have cooled, and I might have
claimed all the law allowedme. I felt that it was right to do what I have done,
and I wishedto commit myself before selfishness couldcome in." Many a
noble purpose dies of cold and delay in its infancy.

2. It is not the hand of a weakling. Seeit binding up wounds, pouring m oil
and wine, setting the traveller on his beast, bringing him to the inn, tending
him all through the night, taking out the purse and giving to the host. The
hand moved by love is not easilytired, is not flighty but steady, and carries
through what it begins.
3. It is not the hand of a hireling, who works only for pay. The Samaritan was
not rich: he travelled with one ass and without a servant. Besides the wine,
and oil, and bandages, andtwo pence to the host, he lost a whole day's work,
and probably a whole night's rest. He had reward enoughin an approving
consciencereflecting the smile of God, in the home-bred sweets ofa
benevolent mind, and in the thought that he was imitating his Father in
heaven.
4. It is not the hand of earthly ambition. The Pharisees gave alms to be seenof
men. Had the Samaritan been like them, he also would have passedby on the
other side.
III. THE CHRISTIAN'S SPHERE. The lawyer made it very narrow. He loved
his friends and hated his enemies, and was sure that these Samaritans were no
neighbours of his. But Christ teaches thatthere are no limits or exceptions to
the love of man.
(J. Wells, M. A.)
The GoodSamaritan
W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.

Luke 10:29-37
The first objectthat arrests our attention is a man lying by the wayside
robbed, stripped, wounded, half dead. Now, all that we know about this man
was that he had been taking a journey from Jerusalemto Jericho;and even
this is full of suggestion. He had his back turned upon the "city of the vision of
peace" andhis face turned towards the city of the curse. Cursed was Jericho
— cursed in the moment of its first destruction, and cursedin the moment of
its restoration. He was turning his back upon the place which had been built
for God's glory, for the especialabode, so to speak, of the Divine presence,
and his face towards the place which had been built in distinct defiance of the
Divine will, the very existence of which was a monument of human rebellion.
Such is the ill-omened characterofthe journey which the traveller has
undertaken. Is it not just such a journey that man has undertaken? If we look
at human history, what is it but a continuous going down from Jerusalemto
Jericho? Dearfriends, as it has been with human history in the abstract, so
has it been with eachof us individually. As we look upon our own history,
what has it been? One continual going awayfarther and farther from God,
wandering from "the city of peace,"and voluntarily exiling ourselves into the
regionwhich is blighted with God's curse. First, there is "the robbing." Satan
is the greatmasterrobber. How much has he robbed us of? First, he has
robbed us of all the blessedness ofParadise. Further, this man was not only
robbed, he was also "stripped." They were not contentwith taking his money,
they must needs take his garments. That is just what Satanhas done with us.
He has stripped us of all with which we coverour shame. There are some of us
who have endeavouredto put on a garb of respectability, and to cover
ourselves with that, just as our first parents sewedfig-leaves togetherto cover
themselves. And that is not all. He is not content with robbing and stripping
you; he goes evenfurther; with ruthless hands he "wounds" those whom he
has alreadyrobbed. How many of us are there here who do not know what it

is to be wounded, inwardly wounded? Ah! he knows how to wound.
Wounded! How are you "wounded?" not only by the malice of Satan, but by
the accusations ofconscience.How are you "wounded?" Not only wounded by
Satan, not only wounded by conscience, but also wounded by your truest and
best Friend. For there is One who wounds that He may heal. "Faithful are the
wounds of a friend!" But that was not all. The man was not only wounded, but
he was "left half dead." In what sense is the sinner half dead? So far as his
spiritual condition is concernedhe is quite dead, but so far as his moral nature
is concernedhe is half dead; that is to say, he is rapidly losing all his moral
powers, but he is not altogetherlost. The man is not only half dead; he is fast
dying; his life is ebbing out in that flowing blood. Every moment that he lies
there he grows weaker. Now letus look at it again. The first that passesthat
way is the priest. The priest cannotdo anything for him, or does not do
anything for him. And, dear friends, all the ordinances in the world, however
precious and howevervaluable they are in themselves, will not restore lost
vitality. The Levite passesby — he can do nothing. "If there had been a law
given which could have given life, verily righteousness shouldhave been by
the law." This is just where the law fails. But the next to come along that road
is one of a different race. He was the very last man that this poor dying Jew
had a claim upon. "He was a Samaritan." And Jesus passesby, not on the
wings of His sovereignpower, not in the majesty of His eternal sway, but He
passes by in human form, a traveller amongstthe sons of men. He passesby
along life's dreary, dusty journey; He threads the mazes of life's wilderness,
and on His way He "hears the groanings of such as are in captivity, and the
sorrowfulsighing of those who are appointed to die."
(W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The GoodSamaritan
ProfessorFlint, D. D. , LL. D.

Luke 10:29-37
Here is my neighbour, here is one for whom I am bound to care. It matters
not what the need or distress may be, love will be ready to supply the need or
relieve the distress to the utmost of its power.
1. It may be bodily suffering. It was bodily suffering that the goodSamaritan
was representedas displaying his compassionfor. Christ's miracles were
mostly miracles of mercy. If we had enough of true love, I believe we should
send out medical missionaries to the heathen, even though we had no hope of
securing converts to the gospel. The crowding togetherof human beings into
wretcheddwellings under conditions obnoxious to both physical and moral
life are evils which might engage the most anxious thoughts, and elicit the
deepestsympathies of every Christian man and woman in our large towns.
2. It may be the subtle mischief of unbelief, which is, no doubt, slaying its
thousands in the present age, and sapping the strength and endangering the
future of society.
3. It may be the burdens of a spirit labouring under a sense ofsin, burdens
only to be removed by the soul's directly closing with Christ's invitation to
come unto Him for rest. It may, in a word, be any sorrow and any sin. All
around us there are multitudes of wounded men and women whom we ought
not to pass by without helping them. Have we, then, been striving, as in duty
bound, to fulfil the old, old law of love, the royal law which sums up all law?
Have we been faithfully endeavouring to meet the demands made upon us by
a world around us with its multitudinous mass of wounded and dying men?

Surely we need to humble ourselves, becausewe have so greatlyfailed in this
respect.
(ProfessorFlint, D. D. , LL. D.)
True Help
C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.
Luke 10:29-37
We canhelp a man only by identifying ourselves with him, getting into his
circumstances, getting into him, becoming he If you have a temptation that
you want to get the mastery over, the man for you to go to for counseland
relief is the man who has been in your place and gainedthe victory that you
want to gain. The heat man to convert a drunkard is a converted drunkard.
The powerto appreciate temptation is the prime condition to being able to
help others out of temptation. In a certain way it holds that the more bad and
awkwardsituations a goodman has been in, the richer may prove his ministry
and the more various his apostleship. Almost all the men in the Scripture
story that ever proved a greatadvantage to anybody had at some time been
themselves in sad need of succour. The first step God took towards making us
become like Him was for Him to become as far as He could like us. If you have
any doctrinal perplexity, your resort for assistancewillalways be to some one
whose doctrinal experience has been complicatedin the same way. And it is
not by any means enough to be able to understand another man's difficulty,
burden, temptation; we need to go a little farther and feel it as our own
difficulty, burden, temptation, just as the Samaritannot only appreciatedhis

fellow-traveller's distresses, but felt them as his own distresses, andtherefore
sethim on his own beast;and as Christ not only understoodour sins, but
Himself put Himself behind our sins, underneath them, carried them, and in
such a whole-heartedway, as really to suffer the pain and penalty of them.
There is always more or less ofthe vicarious when there is any gooddone, any
release wrought, any redemption effected.
(C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The Spirit of Love
F. D. Maurice, M. A.
Luke 10:29-37
The priest and the Levite knew the law, which was written in a book,
perfectly. They had nothing to learn about that. The words of it rose at once to
their lips; they could confound any one who disputed it. And yet when they
were calledto fulfil this law — when their neighbour lay on the ground
needing their help, they did not remember it at all. It was a long wayfrom
them. They were to love their neighbour as themselves, no doubt. But who was
their neighbour? Not this poor creature, though he was a Jew, a sonof
Abraham, an heir of the covenant. They owedhim nothing; they were going
on their own errands; what was he to them. That is to say, they had the law of
love upon tables, but they had it not written on their hearts. They were
serving God for hire; they could do things which they thought would profit
them, and avoid things which they thought would injure them, but they did
nothing because they had God's mind; they did nothing because they felt to

men as He feels towards them. But this Samaritan, although he had never
studied the words of the law as they had; though he had not a hundredth part
of the blessings whichbelonged to them; though he had probably a great
many mistakes and confusions in his head from which they were free, had this
law of love in his heart, and showedthat he had. Godhad written it there.
And therefore he did not ask whetherthis poor half-dead traveller by the
roadside belongedto his village, or his town, or his country, or his religion. He
had nothing to do with any of those questions, supposing there was any one
able to answerthem. This was his neighbour, for he was a man. That was
quite enough, and therefore he at once did what his neighbour wanted, what
he would have had another do to him. Here was a lessonfor the lawyer; one
which he might be learning day by day, which would last him as long as he
remained on earth, and long after that. If he would keepGod's
commandments, he must give up his pride as a lawyer, his pride as a Jew;he
must become simply a man, just like this poor despised Samaritan. He must
understand that God caredfor men, and therefore he must care for them.
(F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
He that showedmercy - Or, so much mercy. His prejudice would not permit
him to name the Samaritan, yet his conscienceobligedhim to acknowledge
that he was the only righteous personof the three.
Go, and do thou likewise - Be even to thy enemy in distress as kind, humane,
and merciful, as this Samaritanwas. As the distress was on the part of a Jew,
and the relief was afforded by a Samaritan, the lawyer, to be consistentwith
the decisionhe had already given, must feelthe force of our Lord's inference,

that it was his duty to act to any person, of whatever nation or religionhe
might be, as this Samaritan had actedtoward his countryman. It is very likely
that what our Lord relates here was a real matter of fact, and not a parable;
otherwise the captious lawyer might have objectedthat no such case had ever
existed, and that any inference drawn from it was only begging the question;
but as he was, in all probability, in possessionofthe facthimself, he was
forcedto acknowledgethe propriety of our Lord's inference and advice.
Those who are determined to find something allegorical, evenin the plainest
portions of Scripture, affirm that the whole of this relationis to be
allegoricallyconsidered;and, according to them, the following is the true
exposition of the text.
The certainman means Adam - went down, his fall - from Jerusalem, ‫םולש‬
fo etats sihgninaem,.cte ,noitcefrep,ecaepees llahs eh,molahs hiroy ‫יראה‬
primitive innocence and excellence - to Jericho, (‫יחרי‬yareacho, his moon), the
transitory and changeable state ofexistence in this world - thieves, sin and
Satan- stripped, took awayhis righteousness,whichwas the clothing of the
soul - wounded, infected his heart with all evil and hurtful desires, which are
the wounds of the spirit - half dead, possessing a living body, carrying about a
soul dead in sin.
The priest, the moral law - the Levite, the ceremoniallaw - passedby, either
could not or would not afford any relief, because by the law is the knowledge
of sin, not the cure of it. A certainSamaritan, Christ; for so he was calledby
the Jews, John8:48; - as he journeyed, meaning his coming from heavento
earth; his being incarnated - came where he was, put himself in man's place,
and bore the punishment due to his sins - had compassion, it is through the
love and compassionofChrist that the work of redemption was accomplished
- went to him, Christ first seeksthe sinner, who, through his miserable estate,
is incapable of seeking orgoing to Christ - bound up his wounds, gives him
comfortable promises, and draws him by his love - pouring in oil, pardoning
mercy - wine, the consolations ofthe Holy Ghost - sethim on his own beast,
supported him entirely by his grace and goodness,so that he no longer lives,
but Christ lives in him - took him to an inn, his Church, uniting him with his
people - took care of him, placed him under the continual notice of his

providence and love - when he departed, when he left the world and ascended
to the Father- took out two pence, or denarii, the law and the Gospel;the one
to convince of sin, the other to show how it is to be removed - gave them to the
host, the ministers of the Gospelfor the edification of the Church of Christ -
take care of him, as they are Gods watchmen and God's stewards, they are to
watchover the flock of Christ, and give to eachhis portion of meat in due
season. Whatthou spendestmore, if thou shouldst lose thy health and life in
this work - when I come again, to judge the world, I will repay thee, I will
reward thee with an eternity of glory.
Severalprimitive and modern fathers treat the text in this way. What I have
given before is, I believe, the meaning of our blessedLord. What I have given
here is generallytrue in itself, but certainly does not follow from the text. Mr.
Baxter's note here is good:"They who make the wounded man Adam, and the
goodSamaritan Christ, abuse the passage."A practice of this kind cannot be
too strongly reprehended. Men may take that advantage of the circumstances
of the case to illustrate the above facts and doctrines;but let no man saythis is
the meaning of the relation; no: but he may say, we may make this use of it.
Though I cannot recommend this kind of preaching, yet I know that some
simple upright souls have been edified by it. I dare not forbid a man to work
by whom God may choose to work a miracle, because he follows not with us.
But such a mode of interpretation I can never recommend.
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
He that showedmercy - His “Jewish” prejudice would not permit him “to
name” the Samaritan, but there was no impropriety, even in his view, in
saying that the man who showedso much mercy was really the neighbor to
the afflicted, and not he who “professed”to be his neighbor, but who would
“do nothing” for his welfare.
Go, and do thou likewise - Show the same kindness to “all” - to friend and foe
- and “then” you will have evidence that you keepthe law, and not “till” then.
Of this man we know nothing farther; but from this inimitably beautiful
parable we may learn:

1. That the knowledge ofthe law is useful to make us acquainted with our own
sinfulness and need of a Saviour.
2. That it is not he who “professes”mostkindness that really loves us most,
but he who will most deny himself that he may do us goodin times of want.
3. That religion requires us to do goodto “all” people, however“accidentally”
we may become acquainted with their calamities.
4. That we should do goodto our enemies. Reallove to them will lead us to
deny ourselves, and to sacrifice our own welfare, that we may help them in
times of distress and alleviate their wants.
5. That he is really our neighbor who does us the most good - who helps us in
our necessities,and especiallyif he does this when there has been “a
controversyor difference” betweenus and him.
6. We hence see the beauty of religion. Nothing else will induce people to
surmount their prejudices, to overcome opposition, and to do goodto those
who are at enmity with them. True religion teaches us to regard every man as
our neighbor; prompts us to do goodto all, to forgetall national or sectional
distinctions, and to aid all those who are in circumstances ofpoverty and
want. If religion were valuable for nothing “but this,” it would be the most
lovely and desirable principle on earth, and all, especiallyin their early years,
should seek it. Nothing that a young personcan gain will be so valuable as the
feeling that regards all the world as one greatfamily, and to learn early to do
goodto all.
7. The difference betweenthe Jew and the Samaritanwas a difference in
“religion” and “religious opinion;” and from the example of the latter we may
learn that, while people differ in “opinions” on subjects of religion, and while
they are zealous for what they hold to be the truth, still they should treat each
other kindly; that they should aid eachother in necessity;and that they
should thus show that religionis a principle superior to the love of sect, and
that the cord which binds man to man is one that is to be sundered by no
difference of opinion, that Christian kindness is to be marred by no forms of

worship, and by no bigoted attachment for what we esteemthe doctrines of
the gospel.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And he said, he that showedmercy to him,.... Meaning the Samaritan; which
he was obliged to declare, though of another country and religion, and
accountedas an enemy; yet the case was so plain, as put by Christ, that he
could not with any honour or conscience,sayotherwise:
then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise;such like acts of
beneficence and kindness, though to a personof a different nation and
religion, and though even an enemy; and by so doing, thou wilt not only
appear to be a goodneighbour thyself, but to love thy neighbour as thyself.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Go, etc. — O exquisite, matchless teaching!What new fountains of charity has
not this opened up in the human spirit - rivers in the wilderness, streams in
the desert!What noble Christian institutions have not such words founded, all
undreamed of till that wondrous One came to bless this heartless world of
ours with His incomparable love - first in words, and then in deeds which have
translated His words into flesh and blood, and poured the life of them through
that humanity which He made His own! Was this parable, now, designedto
magnify the law of love, and to show who fulfils it and who not? And who did
this as never man did it, as our BrotherMan, “our Neighbor?” The priests
and Levites had not strengthenedthe diseased, norbound up the broken
(Ezekiel34:4), while He bound up the brokenhearted(Isaiah 61:1), and
poured into all wounded spirits the balm of sweetestconsolation. All the
Fathers saw through the thin veil of this noblestof stories, the Story of love,
and never weariedof tracing the analogy(though sometimes fancifully
enough) [Trench]. Exclaims GregoryNazianzen (in the fourth century), “He
hungered, but He fed thousands; He was weary, but He is the Restof the

weary; He is saluted ‹Samaritan‘ and ‹Demoniac,‘but He saves him that went
down from Jerusalemand fell among thieves,” etc.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
On him (μετ αυτου — met' autou). With him, more exactly. The lawyer saw
the point and gave the correctanswer, but he gulped at the word “Samaritan”
and refused to saythat.
Do thou (συ ποιει — su poiei). Emphasis on “thou.” Would this Jewishlawyer
act the neighbour to a Samaritan? This parable of the GoodSamaritan has
built the world‘s hospitals and, if understood and practised, will remove race
prejudice, national hatred and war, class jealousy.
Vincent's Word Studies
He that shewedmercy on him. ( μετά )
Rather with him: ( μετά ): dealt with him as with a brother. The lawyer avoids
the hated word Samaritan.
sa40
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
And he said, He that shewedmercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go,
and do thou likewise.
And he said, He that showedmercy on him — He could not for shame say
otherwise, though he thereby condemned himself and overthrew his own false
notion of the neighbour to whom our love is due.
Go and do thou in like manner — Let us go and do likewise, regarding every
man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Letus renounce that bigotry

and party zeal which would contractour hearts into an insensibility for all the
human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much
our own, that our love to them is but selflove reflected. With an honest
openness of mind let us always remember that kindred betweenman and
man, and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of
our nature, God has strongly bound us to eachother.
The Fourfold Gospel
And he said, He that showedmercy on him1. And Jesus said unto him, Go,
and do thou likewise2.
He that showedmercy on him. The lawyer avoided the name Samaritanso
distasteful to his lips. Jesus gave countenance to no such racialprejudice, even
though the Samaritans had rejectedhim but a few weeks before this (Luke
9:53).
Go, and do thou likewise. All the laws and teachings ofGod are to be
generouslyinterpreted (Matthew 5:43,44)and are to be embodied in the life
(Matthew 7:24-27).
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
‘Go, and do thou likewise.’
Luke 10:37
The parable of the Good Samaritanhas been so frequently, so fully, so
effectively dealt with that there is no need to dwell upon its details or to

attempt once more to develop its spiritual teaching. It is my purpose to show
in what ways we may obey the teaching which underlies the command of our
Lord: ‘Go, and do thou likewise.’To obeyto the letter these words of the Lord
might be to misread their meaning. The age in which we live, the land in
which we live, the circumstances by which we are surrounded, differ as widely
as possible from the age, the land, the circumstances ofour Lord’s time. These
things must be takeninto accountin trying to realise how we may do our
Lord’s bidding.
I. In estimating our duty to our fellow-men, we must not take a narrow view
of what that duty is.—Whenmen read some sad story of distress they are
always ready to throw the blame on some one else, the clergyby preference.
Of course, the clergy have, within certainlimits, a very clearduty to perform,
even as regards the temporal needs of parishioners. They canhardly help
getting to know where help is needed. But we know that they do not, as a rule,
neglectthis part of their duty. Very rightly they remember that a clergyman is
not a relieving officer; that there is such a thing as the PoorLaw; that in
theory, at any rate, no one need starve in England. It is disastrous to spiritual
influence if the clergycome to be lookedupon as persons whose main duty is
to relieve distress. But, whilst this is true, it is also true that they cannot
neglectthe bodily needs of their people without justly incurring blame. If,
however, they are not to be absolutely overwhelmed by the mere serving of
tables, aye, and to be crushed under a sense ofthe hopelessness ofthe task
assignedthem, their number in large parishes must be greatlyincreased, as
also must the resources placedat their disposal;for both these matters there is
opportunity to obey the Master’s command.
II. We are bound to remember that this command is to be obeyed in spirit
rather than in letter.—Whatare the lessons forus now? Certainly not that we
are to relieve every beggarwe meet in the street, every personwho comes to
our door, every sturdy applicant for charity. Prevention is better than cure.
Men are obeying the spirit of our Lord’s teaching when they strive to improve
the condition of the people generally.
III. Christians are bound to obey the teaching of this parable because—

(a) By so doing they will commend spiritual religion to those who love it not.
(b) Christians will have many opportunities of pressing home spiritual truths
which would never have been theirs had they neglectedthe temporal needs of
their neighbours. Our BlessedLord Himself won the hearts of the multitude
by miracles of mercy. In such matters the Church as a whole, not the clergy
alone, must take part. The religious layman who will take the time and trouble
to share actively in improving the lot of his fellow-men is ever a powerfor
goodin spiritual things.
—Rev. Canon Scott.
Illustration
‘Lord Shaftesbury was obeying the spirit of this parable when he did his best
to shorten hours of labour in Lancashire factories, and to prevent children
under a certain age being employed in factorywork. Mr. Plimsoll was obeying
the spirit of this parable when he sought to render it impossible for ships to be
sent to sea in an unfit condition, with unsuitable cargo, without a sufficient
number of sailors. Mr. Raikes wasobeying the spirit of this command when
he instituted Sunday-schools. Mr. Cadbury was obeying the spirit of this
command when he furnished what had been his own home as a holiday retreat
and hospital for sick children. Every effort honestly put forth to make the
world a happier and a better place, whether it be by distinctly evangelistic
plans or by those which have as their first aim the improvement of the
material condition of the people, is obedience to this command. But let us
remember that such effort cannotbe done by proxy. There must be personal
work. It is quite true that those who are willing to give their money may do
much; but all experience shows that the personalinterest of a greatmany
people is absolutelyneedful if large results are to be attained.’
John Trapp Complete Commentary

37 And he said, He that shewedmercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go,
and do thou likewise.
Ver. 37. Go, and do thou likewise]Help him that hath need of thee, though he
be a stranger; yea, or an enemy.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Luke 10:37. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, &c.— What a lively picture have
we in this parable, of the most disinterestedand active benevolence!—A
benevolence, whichexcludes no person, not even strangers orenemies, from
its tender regards!which disdains no condescension, grudges no cost, in its
labours of love! Could any method of conviction have been more forcible, and
at the same time more pleasing, than the interrogatory proposedby our Lord,
and deduced from the history, Luke 10:36.? or canthere be an advice more
suitable to the occasion, more important in its nature, or expressedwith a
more sententious energy, than Go, and do thou likewise. In this case the
learner instructs, the delinquent condemns himself; bigotry hears away its
prejudice; and pride (when the moral so sweetly, so imperceptibly insinuates),
even pride itself lends a willing ear to admonition.
From our Lord's conduct in the case, we learnhow to apply to the passions
and prejudices of men, and by what art truth is best and most successfully
introduced, where error has been long in possession. Were it a defectin our
reasonand understanding that made us disagree, andjudge and act
differently in caseswhere we have one and the same rule to go by, no human
application could reachthe distemper; since it is not in our powerto enlarge
the faculties which are bounded by God and nature; though the Spirit of God
can do wonderful things in this respect. But our reasonand our
understanding are not in fault; they want only to be set free, and to be
delivered from the bondage of passionand prejudice, to judge rightly in cases
of morality andnatural justice. It is Self which influences the judgment of

men, when they obstinately maintain and defend the cause oferror or of vice:
it is Self that always lies at the bottom: it is not so much the vice as Selfthat is
to be defended; and if you canbut separate Selffrom the vice, (which nothing
but the grace of God cando,) the vice will soonbe condemned and forsaken.
By this honest, this holy art, our Lord convinced the lawyer, who put the
question to him, Luke 10:25. He askedthe question, intending that none
should be admitted into the number of his neighbours, who were not nearly
allied to him, of the same nation at least. Our Saviour states a case to him, and
puts it so, that his prejudices were all thrown out and silenced. The
consequence was, that he who wanted to exclude almostall mankind from a
right to his goodoffices, in a few minutes owns even the Samaritan, his most
hated enemy, to be the Jew's neighbour; and by owning and accepting the
Samaritan's goodoffices done to the Jew under the relation of a neighbour, he
confessedthe Samaritan's right, in that relation, to expectand receive the
goodoffices of the Jew. Whence we may draw the following consequences:1.
It is evident, that the true art of convincing of their errors men of obstinate
prejudices, but of generaldiscernment, is, to throw them as much as possible
out of their case;for the less a man is concernedhimself, the better he judges.
You are not in such instances to stir and fret his prejudices, but to decline
them; not to reproachhim with the error that you condemn, but to place the
error at a sufficient distance from him, that he may have a true light to view it
in. We have a remarkable instance of this in the conduct of the prophet
Nathan with David. But, after all, unless the sacredinfluences of divine grace
accompanyour efforts, no genuine goodwill ever arise even from the most
refined arts of reasoning. 2. When once you find yourself, on such occasions,
labouring to justify your actions, and searching for expositions which may suit
your own inclinations, you may consideryourselfexceedinglyfar gone from
the true liberty of the gospel. 3. If you find yourself involved in the case you
are to judge of, instead of seeking fornew reasons and arguments whereby to
form your opinion, you had much better look back, and reflect what sense you
had of this matter before the cause was your own; for it is ten to one but that
judgment was much more free and impartial than any that you will make
now: or consider, if the case admits it, what is the sense ofthe truly pious part
of mankind; you may more safelytrust them than yourself, when your
passions are concerned. At least, suppose your enemy in the same

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