[TheRealThing]

Heard of the good Samaritan all my life. Everyone acts like they know where it came from. Then I read Luke 10:25-37 and got it from the source. How many people really know what the good Samaritan did? Great thread and hope to see more posts here.

Not only were the actions of the good Samaritan generous and compassionate to a degree far superior to the norm of that day, that would also be the case even by any reasonable standard expected of a devout Christian.

The Jews and Samaritans of the ancient world hated each other bitterly, and this had been the case from the days of Abraham. In spite of thousands of years of conflict between Israel and Samaria, he had left the innkeeper with enough money to see the injured man through his recovery period. But he also promised to pay the innkeeper further for any unanticipated shortfall, the next time he came through. And obviously the character of the Samaritan was good enough surety for the innkeeper. ABTW, the good Samaritan expected no repayment. And I'm sure as far as he knew he'd never see the stricken Jew again. Thus all things considered, in my mind the character of the good Samaritan likely exceeded the majority of the Jewish orthodoxy of the day.

Pretty striking when considering that the Jew is and were God's chosen people, this though the Bible clearly reveals that they are no better than anybody else. (All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.) But the point here is they very often failed in their dealings with others. God chose the Jew in spite of his many flaws, not because he was somehow more deserving than the other nations. And like the Jew, Christians fail in many ways today. Though, in our case as the Holy Spirit teaches us and reveals to us our many flaws, we have the opportunity to repent of same, and as the result are conformed to the image of Christ across the time span of our lives. So, the more we judge ourselves the better off we are. In any case the true goodness which any man may express, be that through giving to The Church, or charities, or any good work, they are but the reflection of the goodness of God Himself shinning through their lives.

In other words the larger picture here IMHO, is that it is very likely the good Samaritan was a believer in God and helped the stricken Jew because of his (the Samaritan's) right relationship with God. Ironically though the Jew is God's chosen people, he often lives a godless life style just like the other peoples of the world. But for salvation's sake, God has 'chosen,' all men first by offering His only Son as a sacrifice for them on the cross. And like the Jew, it is up to each individual as to whether he will choose God in return. God chose the Jew first, and He reached out to the peoples of the world in those days through Israel. But with Christ's substitutionary death on the cross, He chose all men first where it comes to the matter of salvation.

Romans 5:8 (KJV)
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:14-16 (KJV)
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(Jesus was lifted up on the cross) and thus all men are to look 'up' to Him in order to be saved.