The Good Samaritan

This week I'm blogging about a nameless man whose decision in a story told centuries ago has profoundly influenced people for ages:  

The Good Samaritan.

This parable, though found only once in Scripture (Luke's gospel), has become one of the most popular of Jesus' teachings.  

According to Luke 10:29-37, a traveler is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by. Samaritans and Jews generally despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man, bandages his wounds and takes him to an inn for which he pays. 

Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to a question, "Who is my neighbor?" Leviticus 19:18 tells us to love our neighbor.

Portraying a Samaritan in a positive light would have come as a shock to Jesus' audience of Jews.

The parable has inspired painting, sculpture, poetry, and film. and it still inspires people to love others as it originally taught.

The colloquial phrase "good Samaritan", meaning someone who helps a stranger, derives from this parable, and today, various hospitals and charitable organizations are named after the Good Samaritan:  For example,   Samaritan's Purse