But What About the Samaritan?

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August 17, 2025

Mary Brown

Luke 10:25-37:25, NRSVUE
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “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 neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, 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. 

But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’  Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

Sometimes it’s fun to look at familiar stories in a different way. When I started working on this sermon, I read the parable of the good Samaritan and started thinking about the people involved. 

Please keep in mind that this was not a true story but a parable, a made-up story with a special truth in it. Jesus liked to tell people stories. You hear many folks talking about storytelling these days because there’s been a lot of research to prove what he already knew, 2000 years ago: stories are powerful, and people remember them. He used more than 35 parables that are recorded in the gospels, stories to get his point across and to help his listeners understand and remember important truths. 

You’re familiar with many of them: the parable of the prodigal son, for instance; the parable of the lost sheep; and of course the parable of the good Samaritan.

You probably know the basics of this story. Jesus’ challenger was saying “Well, who am I supposed to be kind to?” and Jesus was saying, essentially, “Be kind to everyone you run into. Help those who need help. Do what you can to make the world a better place. Everyone can do something.”

Okay, we get that. We may not always do it but at least we understand the point. But what I want to look at today is the Samaritan, the man who helped someone no one else wanted to help. 

Remembering that this is a made-up story, let’s make up a little more. Let’s start with what we know about the good guy: 

He was an outsider, part of a group of people that a lot of other people rejected just because of who their ancestors were. And we know that hurts. It’s not fair. Probably everyone here has been rejected at some point or another, not for something we did but for something that we couldn’t control. I know I’ve been rejected, and it’s not a good feeling. So we can assume that Samaritan had been hurt, somewhere along the line. 

Something else that we know about the Samaritan is that he had enough to share. We don’t know whether he was rich, but we know he was able to help. It may have been a sacrifice, or maybe not; he may have had to sleep on the floor at the inn, or maybe he had enough money to get a bed for himself—we don’t know but we know he had enough to share.

That’s about it. We don’t know anything about his family, or his job. We don’t know details, such as what he looked like, but they don’t really matter. It’s easy to get distracted by external things: what clothes someone is wearing, whether they’re tall or short, if they’re really handsome or just ordinary like most of us, what color their skin is. But Jesus did not include information like that.  

Guess what else we don’t know? We don’t know what was in his heart, and that is what we’re going to talk about today. We don’t know why he stopped to help the injured man.

The Greek word translated here as “compassion” basically means to have a strong feeling of pity or tenderness for someone. So this Samaritan felt sorry for the injured man, but that’s not all. He also stopped. He did something about it. 

It’s one thing to say about a situation, “Oh that’s so sad,” but it’s another thing entirely to stop and help. The Bible story has two important verbs in these verses: Number 1, he felt sorry, and number 2, more importantly, he wentto the injured man.   

Now. Here’s the question: Why? Why did the Samaritan do something about the situation? And why does that question even matter? Why is it important? If the sick man was helped, isn’t that all that matters?

Maybe that’s all that mattered to the injured man, but no – there’s much more for the Samaritan. You see, our attitude when we help someone has a lot to do with our relationship with God. 

Everyone here has helped someone, somewhere along the line. We’ll probably have plenty of chances to help many more people. What will our attitude be, when we offer our help? 

I’m thinking the Samaritan could have had an attitude of superiority. He could have had an attitude of fear. Or he could have had an attitude of gratitude.

Let’s say the Samarian was walking along and he saw the other two pass by that injured man. He could probably tell by their clothes that they were religious guys, and he could tell by their hostility to him that they thought he was trash. 

So we can understand if he went to help the hurt man while thinking, “They act like they’re so spiritual but I’m much better than they are because I’m going to help, I’m not going to walk on by. They’re the ones who are trash. I am the one who’s doing the right thing.” That’s an attitude of superiority. “I’m proving that I’m better because I’m helping.” 

I’m glad to have some help today from the congregation. Marty, representing Samaritan #1, has a sign that says, “I’m better.” When we give, when we help with an attitude of superiority, we want the world to know what we’ve done. We want all the publicity, all the praise. We make sure someone knows about our good deed, and we feel proud of ourselves. Self-satisfied. Maybe even arrogant.

Or how about an attitude of fear? Maybe the Samaritan actually knew the injured man and he was scared that, if he didn’t help him, the man would be angry at him later and would tell everyone else how thoughtless he’d been. Or maybe the Samaritan was afraid that God would punish him if he didn’t stop to help. So his heart wasn’t in it and he didn’t actually want to stop but he was scared that something bad would happen to him. And he did the right thing but it was for the wrong reason.

Charlie, representing Samaritan #2, has a sign that says, “I’m scared.” That’s not something we want the world to know but when we give because we’re scared we know why we gave. We know why we helped, and God knows it too.

But now let’s say that the Samaritan, as he traveled, had been contemplating the grace of the Lord, praising and thanking God for all kinds of things. Maybe he didn’t even see the other two who passed the man up. Maybe he knew about robbers traveling that road but he wasn’t afraid because his trust was in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. You know we always have a choice about what we focus our thoughts on. 

So let’s say the Samaritan was diddy-bopping along, just thinking about goodness and mercy, just being grateful. Not complaining. “I thank you, Lord, that I can walk on this road. I thank you that I have a reasonable portion of strength and health. I thank you because you are with me even here in this dangerous territory. 

“I may not have as much as other folks, but I thank you for what I do have and I thank you because things are as good as they are.” 

And then when he saw that poor wounded man he could run toward him with a heart full of gratitude – “Thank you, Lord, because I have something that I can share! I’m doing this for you!” 

Here is Ricky, representing Samaritan #3. And his sign says, “I’m grateful.”

This is important because it affects our relationship with God, and that’s more important than anything else. If we continue to give out of pride or fear, that pride and fear will grow and push us farther from our Lord who loves us so much. 

What can we give? Not just money but we can give time. A helping hand. A smile, some tenderness.

I don’t know about you but I can think of times when I’ve given for the wrong reason, and I regret it deeply. If you feel the same way, I have good news for both of us: Right now we can just simply ask God to forgive us, and then believe that the Lord has forgiven us. It’s that simple. Maybe not easy, but simple.

Let’s work on giving because we’re grateful. That way, we will grow closer and closer to God because we will be more and more aware of God’s presence. When we are grateful, we magnify God – which doesn’t mean God gets bigger, it just means we see God more clearly. 

Some time soon – maybe today, maybe tomorrow – you’re going to have a chance to help someone, somehow, somewhere. How will you give? Maybe just you and the good Lord will know, but it’s important. Will you be arrogant, like Samaritan #1? Will your sign say “I’m better”? Will you be fearful, like Samaritan #2? Will your sign say “I’m scared”?

Or will you be grateful, like Samaritan #3? If you want to be grateful, take a minute after church to write on this sign. There are markers waiting for you on the table at the back. Write your name or your initials. Draw a picture or a smiley face. Just make a mark, and mark, that says “I thank God, and I want to give because I’m grateful.”