Which of these was neighbor unto him?

The Good Samaritan copyright © by Dean Cornwell.

Most anyone who was raised as a Christian in America knows the story of the Good Samaritan. A man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho is set upon by thieves who rob him, take even his clothes, and leave him half-dead along the side of the road. A priest comes by a while later but passes right by and doesn't help. A bit later, a Levite comes by and also passes him by. Finally, a Samaritan comes along and tends to his wounds, places the wounded man on his own animal, and takes him to an inn, where he gives the innkeeper money to take care of him, promising to pay the innkeeper more money the next time he sees him, if what he left wasn't enough to cover the expenses.

For many Americans, this simple tale is a part of our culture. The Good Sam Club, an RVer's organization with over one million members, derives it's name from the tale of the Good Samaritan. Many states have Good Samaritan laws that require the first person on the scene of a traffic accident to render assistance and provides certain protections from liability suits. The Good Samaritan Society is America's largest non-profit long-term care organization. And there are Good Samaritan Hospitals all across America, from Puyallup, Washington, to Miami, Florida and from Los Angeles, California to Bangor, Maine.

The concept from the story about helping others comes across crystal clear to most people, including many people who aren't Christians. I think many people who know the tale, though, miss two of the critical messages of the story, which are about tolerance and assumptions.

The priest passing by is, IMO. a reference to those who preach one thing but do another in their own lives. Both the priest and the Levite represent officials of the same religion as the injured man but neither stop to help. There are myriad possible reasons why they didn't stop to help this injured man. This particular road was infamous for it's muggers and thieves, perhaps they felt it was too dangerous. Perhaps they didn't feel it was their place to get involved. Perhaps they thought he was dead and were simply following their priestly prohibitions against touching the bodies of the dead. Or perhaps they were simply hypocrites who didn't put their own professed belief system into play in their own lives. In examining politicians and some religious leaders across this great land of America, I can find many, many examples of people whose stated beliefs don't jive with their actions. It is clear that one of the points of the story is that the priest and the Levite should have stopped to help the injured man. I leave it to you to determine for yourself which of our politicians and religious leaders aren't stopping by the side of the road to help those who most need the help.

Of special note is that the person who does stop to help is a Samaritan. In the time and location in which the story is set, Samaritans were considered to be outsiders, outcasts, heretics, and even worse, by their fellow Jews. Their reasons were generally motivated by differences in race and in religion. For example, some Rabbis of those days taught that it was a sin to help a Samaritan woman give birth because it was evil to help bring another heretic into the world. And yet, it is the Samaritan, a man who was culturally and religiously different from the injured man, who stopped to help.

So what does this mean to us in this day and age? Well, one context to me is as a model for relations between American Christians and Arab Muslims. The racial, religious and cultural differences between ancient Jews and Samaritans certainly seem to have been as different as the differences between American Christians and Arab Muslims today. So if those differences are of the same nature, then surely the message should apply to us as well. Plainly stated, we should love each other as we love ourselves.

The parable also raises some interesting questions; to which I have my own answers. Are all Samaritans good? No, I don't think so. Are all Priests and Levites bad? No, very unlikely. Are all Arabs terrorists? No. Are all Arabs Muslim? No. Are all Arab Muslims violent extremists? No. Are all Americans war-mongers? No. Are all Americans Christians? No. Are all American Christians right-wing conservative fundamentalists? No. And so it goes.

I think that people are as different in other cultures and societies as we are here in America. So it is important to me that I treat other people based on their character, not their race, their religion, their culture, and so forth. Lumping Arabs and/or Muslims together into gigantic groups and treating them as if they are all the same is no more fair or accurate than saying that Jerry Falwell and David Koresh are the same since they are/were fundamentalist Christians.

Being a Good Samaritan means more than just helping out those who are like you; it also means helping those who are very different from you.