The most misinterpreted and wrongly applied of Jesus’ parables is
certainly the story of the good Samaritan. The prevailing contemporary
understanding of this passage sees the story through the lens of
Christian ethics, as if the Samaritan was invented by Jesus as a means
of demonstrating to Christians how they should express God’s love to the
world. This interpretation—common as it may be—is the polar opposite of
what Jesus meant by the parable. Jesus did not tell this parable to
illustrate how we are supposed to live, but rather to refute the idea
that being a good neighbor can earn you salvation. The Samaritan is not
in Scripture to serve as an example of Christian ethics, and to
conscript him for that cause largely misses Jesus’ point.
As a side note, the concept of working one’s way to heaven through
doing good deeds and being a good neighbor is not limited to Ancient
Near East priestly societies. In fact, it is as common today in the
United States as it was in second temple Judaism. How often have you
witnessed to someone who says they are going to heaven because they are
“a good person”? When you follow up by asking them to describe what it
means to be a good person, the response is generally along the lines of
“I help people, and do what is right in my own eyes.” The story of the
good Samaritan was told to crush exactly that concept of good. Keep Reading...
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