(Jesus asked) “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:36-37).

It seems I become uncomfortable whenever I approach the Good Samaritan parable. I recognize this is because I immediately think of the ways I have failed to be a good neighbor.

Ironically, this is a subtle point of the parable. Not that I have failed, but that my attention immediately goes to…ME.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermon on this parable (available on YouTube) puts it out there. He says it’s not “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But instead, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” 

For three years Jesus had demonstrated how He answered this question. He had stopped to heal the leper (Mt.8:2-3). He had stopped to intervene on behalf of the woman about to be stoned (Jn.8:3-11). He had stopped to reveal His identity to the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4:25-26). (He had stopped many more times than my word limit allows me to list!)  

Each instance was leading Him closer to something bad happening to him. Yet He wasn’t letting “what will happen to me if I stop” divert His attention. No, His full attention was on what would happen to the hurting one—the one He is calling his neighbor in this parable—if He didn’t stop. 

Then during Holy Week Jesus laser-focused His attention on what would happen to humanity if He didn’t stop—literally stop-dead—to help us all.  

Seeing ourselves as the beat-up left-for-dead-on-the-roadside man gives us an accurate picture of our great need for what Jesus did. 

Seeing ourselves as the priest and the Levite who didn’t stop sobers us. It helps us see our bent for not stopping for what it is. It also stirs in us even more gratitude for those who have stopped to help us. 

Seeing ourselves as the good Samaritan has the potential to radically shift our attention. 

He, too, was on his way somewhere, just as the ones who didn’t stop were. He, too, would have known this was a dangerous stretch of highway. He would have legitimately had the added concern of being among a people who despised him as a Samaritan.  And yet he stopped. Because, if he didn’t, “what would happen to this man?”

Attention Shifts:

Sit silently for a minute. Then let any hurt you carry in your heart or in your body serve to help you identify—a lot, a little, or somewhere in between—with the beaten man. 

“Watch” others pass you by, unwilling to offer their help. Then try putting yourself in their shoes.

Now let Jesus come and care for you. Remember times His care for you came through others.