What if the person you avoid is the one Jesus calls you to love? The parable of the good Samaritan is more than a story about kindness. It’s a challenge to love across every dividing line.
You’ve probably heard the term “good Samaritan.” It’s become shorthand for someone who helps a stranger—a feel-good example of kindness.
But the original story Jesus told about the good Samaritan was anything but heartwarming. It was sharp, awkward, and deeply uncomfortable. But why? Why would a simple story about roadside assistance stir up such big emotions? Let’s explore together.
Here’s a sneak peek at what this story is all about. The parable of the good Samaritan is a story about who we believe is worth our time, care, and compassion. Jesus uses this parable to challenge deeply held biases and redefine what it really means to love our neighbors. And the answer He gives still pushes against our assumptions today.
What Is a Parable?
A parable is a simple story that uses everyday imagery to reveal deep spiritual truths. Jesus didn’t invent parables, but He was a master parable teller, using them to teach timeless lessons about God’s kingdom.
Parables invited listeners to lean in, reflect, and wrestle with what Jesus was really saying. For those with open hearts, these simple stories revealed deep spiritual truths. But for those who resisted, the meaning remained hidden.
Want to go deeper into Jesus’ stories? Here’s your guide: The Ultimate Guide to the Parables of Jesus.
Where Does the Parable of the Good Samaritan Appear in Scripture?
You’ll only find the parable of the good Samaritan in one place: Luke 10:25-37.
It all starts when someone tries to test Jesus with a big question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answers with a question of His own, and then tells one of His most well-known parables—the story of the good Samaritan.
A Parable of the Good Samaritan Summary
Here’s how the story goes:
A man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he’s attacked, robbed, beaten, and left half-dead on the side of the road.
A priest walks by, sees him, and crosses to the other side to avoid him. A Levite, another religious man, does the same thing.
Then comes a Samaritan. Someone the Jewish people would’ve seen as an outsider or even an enemy. But he doesn’t walk past. He stops to help. He treats the man’s wounds with oil and wine, puts him on his own donkey, and pays for him to stay at an inn to recover, promising to cover any expenses.
Quick recap:
- A traveler is attacked and left for dead.
- Two respected religious people pass by without offering him aid.
- Only a Samaritan stops to help.
- He gives time, money, and compassion to care for a complete stranger.
Who’s Who in the Parable?
Every parable contains people, objects, or animals to which Jesus gives spiritual meaning. This parable is no different. So before we explore what this parable means, we need to find out who and what each thing in this parable represents.
- The traveler: Anyone who is in need, hurt, vulnerable, or unable to help themselves.
- The robbers: Those who harm, exploit, or devalue others. Some scholars suggest they represent the destructive nature of sin.
- The priest and the Levite: The religious elite, who look the part but fail to live out the heart of God’s law.
- The Samaritan: A disliked cultural and spiritual outsider who shows real mercy and love, even when it’s costly.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan Explained
Jesus told this story to show that loving your neighbor isn’t just about helping people in need; it’s about helping people regardless of their beliefs, background, opinions, or whether they fit our expectations.
The big takeaway: Loving God means loving all people, even when it’s inconvenient, complicated, or uncomfortable.
The Context of the Parable of the Good Samaritan
This parable wasn’t written to us, but it was spoken to real people in a real moment. Understanding that moment helps us see what Jesus meant more clearly.
The conversation started when a law expert—someone who knew the Scriptures inside and out—asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” But this question wasn’t coming from a place of curiosity. Luke tells us the man asked the question to test Jesus. He believed he knew the “right” answer and wanted to see if Jesus agreed with his belief.
Jesus, as He so often did, responded to this question with another question. He asked the expert what was written in the law. The man answered correctly: Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
Then, the expert asked the big question, which kicked off this parable, “And who is my neighbor?”
In other words, he was asking, “Who do I have to love?” Based on the context, it seems like he was silently asking another question, too—the kind of question people don’t say out loud: “Who is it okay for me to hate, dislike, or ignore?”
That’s when Jesus told this story.
Why Did the Jews Hate the Samaritans?
To really feel the weight of this parable, you need to know just how shocking it was for Jesus to make a Samaritan the hero of the story.
In Jesus’ time, deep hostility existed between Jews and Samaritans. The tension went back centuries, starting when the northern kingdom of Israel fell. Many people in the northern kingdom were carried off into exile, and those left behind intermarried with people from other nations brought in by the Assyrians. The Samaritans were their descendants.
By contrast, the Judeans (Jews) were those taken into Babylonian exile decades later, who eventually returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
What Was the Conflict Between Jews and Samaritans?
Over time, the Samaritans developed their own version of worship centered on Mount Gerizim, which the Judeans viewed as heretical and impure. Their Scriptures differed, and the Samaritans rejected parts of the Old Testament that the Judeans held sacred.
Compared with the Samaritans, the Judeans saw themselves as preserving true worship and viewed Samaritans as compromised or unfaithful.
You had two groups:
- The Samaritans had lived in the land continuously but were smaller in number, less politically influential, and had lost their religious center.
- The Judeans had returned from exile to a position of power (compared to Samaritans), were centered in Jerusalem, and held greater privilege in Roman-occupied society.
How Did the Jews Treat the Samaritans?
To many Jews, a Samaritan wasn’t just different, they were considered traitors to true faith.
Samaritans were a minority group with less political power, less religious influence, and a much smaller population.
Because of their relative power and position, Judeans often marginalized Samaritans. They were excluded from temple worship in Jerusalem and treated as outsiders. Judeans used the word “Samaritan” as an insult.
The Samaritan temple had even been destroyed by a Judean military leader around 150 years before Jesus told this story.
What Makes the Good Samaritan Story So Bold?
So when Jesus told a parable where a hated Samaritan, not a fellow Jew, is the hero who fulfills God’s law, He wasn’t just encouraging kindness. He was making an offensive claim. The kind of claim that gets you in trouble. The kind of claim that just might get you killed.
The person you dislike, dismiss, or even hate might be closer to living out God’s way of life than those who claim to follow Him.
Jesus’ claim was this: The person you dislike, dismiss, or even hate might be closer to living out God’s way of life than those who claim to follow Him. Your neighbor is not just the person you like, the person you agree with, or the person who shares your beliefs. It’s also the person you’ve been taught to avoid.
Who Is My Neighbor According to Jesus?
Let’s jump back into the story.
The story starts with a question: “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus answers through this parable: “The person you’ve been avoiding.”
What the Parable of the Good Samaritan Means Now
The parable of the good Samaritan isn’t just about helping people in need. It’s about helping people you’ve been told not to trust. People whose beliefs, background, or identity make you uncomfortable. People you might normally cross the street to avoid.
That’s what makes this story so challenging and so needed.
Jesus chose someone the crowd believed was on the wrong side of religion, culture, and history to be the hero. Someone they had been taught to fear or dismiss. And Jesus said: That’s the one who got it right.
If Jesus told this kind of story in your workplace, around your dinner table, or even at your church, who might He choose to be the hero of His story?
This parable confronts the voice inside us that asks, “Who do I have to love?” and instead asks, “Who have I been trying to avoid?” If Jesus told this kind of story in your workplace, around your dinner table, or even at your church, who might He choose to be the hero of His story?
The wounded man in this story is never named or described by race, religion, or status. Maybe that’s the point. Mercy doesn’t begin with labels. It begins when we see someone hurting and choose to move toward them.
This good Samaritan story isn’t soft. It’s not safe. It’s Jesus telling us that living out God’s love might mean showing mercy to the very people we’ve been taught to avoid.
Need strength to love someone who’s hard to love? These prayers for strength can help.
3 Truths From the Parable of the Good Samaritan
- Real love isn’t proven by belief. It’s proven by mercy.
- Your neighbor includes the person you’ve been taught to avoid.
- Following Jesus means moving toward need, not away from it.
Next Steps
Reflect:
Who’s someone you’ve been tempted to avoid that Jesus might be inviting you to love?
Pray:
God, help me to see people the way You do. Teach me to love with action, not just words. When it’s hard or inconvenient, remind me that mercy is worth it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Action Step:
Look for one opportunity this week to interrupt your schedule and care for someone who’s hurting. This might look like checking in with a friend, offering help to a stranger, or giving to someone in need. Be the neighbor.
Read the Parable for Yourself 📖
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“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.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:25-37 NIV