GOSPEL PARABLES 16 GOOD SAMARITAN
The background to this parable is yet another story about the Jewish Pharisees and legalists taking opportunity to appear righteous in front of Jesus for the sake of impressing the crowds. To do this they would pose theological questions to Jesus for which they believed they had a smart answer. A lawyer (an expert in Mosaic law) decided he would ask Jesus a question that he could himself answer brilliantly and then parry with Jesus to and fro, and so appear to be as wise if not wiser than Jesus.

Luke 10:25 And then a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered back, “You shall 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 your neighbour as yourself.” And Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will have life.” But he wanted to justify himself (appear righteous) and said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” (pl??sion; a person that is near or close in a variety of ways).
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (These people are distancing themselves – the opposite to becoming near and close as neighbours)
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Jesus had just told a story of a man who was found beaten and helpless and left for dead. When Jesus told them that a priest came by, the crowd’s hopes were raised, only to fall when he passed by without helping. Next, a Levite arrived, and the crowd’s hope rose once more, but he too distanced himself from the injured man, leaving the crowd wondering about who was next. The crowd might have expected a Jewish man to be the hero, and perhaps this story was about the privileged religious leaders of the day, but Jesus was not trying to make that statement, and in any case, many may have even excused the priests and Levites, knowing that priests and Levites were bound by special rules when it came to touching the dead. (Jesus was saying something else) - And the big surprise was that a despised Samaritan was the compassionate hero in the story and what he did highlighted the true meaning of mercy and loving our neighbour.

Jesus is not making a point that Samaritans are better people than Jews, or that all priests and Levites are hard hearted people. The shock element of who is who in this story is more about the fact that you can’t predict where and when true compassion is going to occur just by having preconceived ideas about a person’s role or status or tribal identity. The parable points out that genuine mercy and compassion is always seen when one person helps another person who is in a helpless or vulnerable or deprived situation by coming close rather than by distancing themselves. And the real issue here is that Jesus proclaims showing mercy as I would say the core relational value of the Kingdom of God. And this just happens to be the answer that the smart lawyer finally gives to Jesus about ‘who is my neighbour’. The Lawyer decisively said to Jesus ‘The one who showed him mercy.’

It is mercy that generates closeness and acceptance and mercy responds to the vulnerability that we all feel as limited human beings. This is also seen in God’s creation even by animals of all varieties in coming to the aid of a helpless young fledgling of a totally different and distinct species. God has woven his mercy into the world of all living creatures. A big goose mothering a baby cat and a cat playing with a baby bird (and 100 more examples)

There is a lot of talk about mercy and compassion these days but sometimes it seems kind of shallow like a superficial compassion. It's more about looking merciful and virtuous than actually caring, and it's more about having the correct moral high ground than actually helping people. And that can actually lead to some needy people adopting a victim mentality where they start to see themselves as helpless and always needing to be rescued. This can be dangerous because if someone or some special identity group can convince people that they're helpless then they can control them. And in today’s global culture there are people in power that cultivate that kind of dependency to stay in control.

And in this parable Jesus upholds this powerful theme of mercy as the overarching core value of God’s love and compassion throughout the Bible. Mercy is not only a feeling of compassion – it is a healing energy that generates concern and care and closeness like no other demonstration of love and faith. But mercy loses its healing power when it is done out of obligation or duty or condescension or guilt – that is not how God works.
We see God’s powerful nature of mercy and compassion on display everywhere in the Bible and we see it emphasised in the writings of at least seven of the Old Testament prophets. And David in the Psalms passionately proclaims the enduring mercy of God about ninety times.

God’s mercy is first seen in the Bible in the book of Exodus Chapter 25 where God commands Moses to construct a mercy seat to cover the Ark of the Covenant which contained the presence of God in the tabernacle and the temple. It was crafted from pure gold which represented the very nature of God, and it shows how God’s desire is to be intimately near to his people, not distant or removed but right at the centre of Israel’s life and worship. It is the place where God meets humanity, not with condemnation but with a desire to show grace. The mercy seat was flanked by two angelic beings called cherubim, with their wings spread over it and their faces turned toward it as though even the heavenly beings are in awe of God’s loving compassion expressed through His mercy and emphasizing the sacredness of this place.

The nature of God’s mercy is also that it does not ignore sin or negate justice because mercy gives people enough time to consider their attitudes and behaviour and change before the consequences of their behaviour overtake them.
‘The Bible also says The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (Lamentations 2:22).
In the New Testament God’s mercy is seen in Hebrews chapter eight where God’s mercy is central to our understanding of how near and close God wants to be with us. The Old Covenant focused on adherence to the Law, and people having to do rituals of washings and sacrifices to come near to him. But in the New Covenant God writes the Commandments in our hearts and Jesus comes to dwell within us and give us his heart of obedience to the Father’s will in all things.
‘For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their unrighteousness (being out of alignment with me), and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:10)
God’s mercy draws us close to himself by pulling us out of our self-conscious mindset of imperfection and unworthiness which makes us feel at a distance from him. Our sense of helplessness can become a pathway towards God and not a pathway into isolation.

We are called to be vessels of God’s mercy in a world that desperately needs it, and the Holy Spirit within us will always be prompting us to respond mercifully to others as he carries that compassion of the Father and Jesus to those around us. Jesus was ‘moved’ with compassion physically (plagchnizomai – in his inner body) when he saw the helplessness of the crowds around him. (Matthew 14:14).

The Bible says that mercy triumphs over judgement (James2:13) but it also says that people who show no mercy to others will receive judgement without mercy for their wrongdoing in the form of the unpleasant consequences of their wrongdoing. This is a sad reminder of how a person can unwittingly choke off the flow of God’s mercy even to their own self. The key to keeping the flow of God’s mercy open is to start by opening ourselves up to God’s mercy which endures forever. We make it something between God and ourselves and seek to live in his acceptance of us in our weakness and helplessness. That humble movement of our heart towards God is the truest expression of genuine faith that a person can have, and the Bible says that our hearts are purified by faith (Acts 10). From within that sea of God’s mercy we can look with eyes of mercy upon another person in their helplessness and that draws us into their need.

The prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for someone in their struggles and their helplessness is an exercise of God’s mercy through us, where we can have faith that God is at work supernaturally to draw that person close to him and bring them his strength and comfort. Mercy often look...