Post by KLC on Feb 20, 2010 14:17:18 GMT -5
Parable of the Good Samaritan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. In it, a Jewish 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 Jew. Jesus tells the parable in response to the question of who one's "neighbor" is.
Portraying a Samaritan in positive light would have come as a shock to Jesus' audience.[1] It is typical of his provocative speech in which conventional expectations are turned upside down.[1]
The colloquial phrase "good Samaritan," meaning someone who helps a stranger, derives from this parable.
The parable
The parable is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25-37.
The Gospel of Luke provides the context for the parable as:
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then replied with a story:
“A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Levite walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Good_Samaritan
Samaritan
From Wikipedia
The Samaritans (Hebrew: שומרונים Shomronim, Arabic: السامريون as-Saamariyun) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, a parallel but separate religion to Judaism or any of its historical forms. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion brought back by the exiled returnees.
Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Common Era. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the Hebrew term שַמֶרִים, "Keepers [of the Law]".[2]
In the Talmud, a central post-exilic religious text of Judaism, their claim of ancestral origin is disputed, and in those texts they are called Cutheans (Hebrew: כותים, Kuthim), allegedly from the ancient city of Cuthah (Kutha), geographically located in what is today Iraq. Modern genetics has suggested some truth to both the claims of the Samaritans and Jewish accounts in the Talmud.[3]
Ancestrally, they claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants who have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Common Era. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the Hebrew term שַמֶרִים, "Keepers [of the Law]".[2]
In the Talmud, a central post-exilic religious text of Judaism, their claim of ancestral origin is disputed, and in those texts they are called Cutheans (Hebrew: כותים, Kuthim), allegedly from the ancient city of Cuthah (Kutha), geographically located in what is today Iraq. Modern genetics has suggested some truth to both the claims of the Samaritans and Jewish accounts in the Talmud.[3]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritanism
Ancient ritual slaughter unites enemies for a day
Tradition thrives in dwindling Samaritan community, writes Ed O'Loughlin in Nablus, West Bank.
IN 1867 the writer Mark Twain encountered in the Palestinian town of Nablus a "sad, proud remnant of a once mighty community", now only a couple of hundred strong.
"I found myself staring at any straggling scion of this strange race with a riveted fascination," he wrote in The Innocents Abroad, "just as one would stare at a living mastodon, or a megatherium that had moved in the grey dawn of creation and seen the wonders of that mysterious world that was before the flood."
Today the Samaritan people are still there, practising an ancient faith and rituals that have changed little in more than 3000 years.
As the full moon rose on Monday, the world's 740-odd surviving Samaritans were again gathered high above Nablus on the holy mountain of Gerizim, the Bible's Mount of Blessings, to celebrate Passover. READ MORE >> www.smh.com.au/news/world/ancient-ritual-slaughter-unites-enemies-for-a-day/2007/05/03/1177788310674.html
(Based Upon John 4:4-26)
The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans)
-John 4:9
-John 4:9
Here we find the Pharisees trying, as usual, to make life difficult for Jesus and His disciples. He certainly seemed to get under their skin! Like spoiled children they spent every waking hour seeking out a means to His end. So, Jesus quietly bid adieu to Judea and headed for Galilee. Although our passage tells us that Jesus "had to go through Samaria" [John 4:4], this is not patently true. [Jews normally went well out of their way to avoid passing through Samaritan borders.]
But Jesus of Nazareth was not your typical Rabbi.
Instead of walking the long way around the region of Samaria as most "upright" Jews would have done, out of an intense dislike of the Samaritans, Jesus elected to journey directly through that very region. He set His face for Sychar, to go where the need was greatest, giving little credence to what the religious leaders required. He preferred to do what God required. [Micah 6:8 "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."]
Jesus arrived at the town of Sychar at about noon, when the heat of the day would have been most unbearable and most people would have been taking refuge under a tree or in their. He came upon a part of town, not too far from the very plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph (Genesis 33:19). It was here that our exhausted and parched Lord sat by Jacob's Well, in need of rest.
Now, it probably would have made more sense for Jesus to wait at the well closer to sunset, when the women of the town normally drew their water. But Jesus, as always, was a Man on a mission, and He chose His own time and place. He found Himself awaiting a visit from a woman when the sun was at its zenith.
A Samaritan woman (we never do learn her name) came along to draw some water. The time of day is worthy of note, as women usually came to draw water when it was cooler. This woman is probably well aware of her tarnished reputation and deliberately chooses the least popular time of day to draw water, careful to avoid the whispers, jeers and clear disgust of her "neighbors." What a sad way to have to go through ones' life, tried and convicted in the eyes of ones' own people - not deemed worthy of their love or consideration.
As a Rabbi, Jesus arguably had the most reason to avoid contact with her. Any "decent" Jewish Rabbi would not deign to even acknowledge the existence of a woman, except as a servant or handmaid. Never as an equal. Talking to a woman was considered taboo. Fortunately Jesus was no slave to tradition. [See Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30 for the story of the Faith of the Canaanite Woman. Jesus treated women far better than was ever expected of a Rabbi.]
The Samaritan woman had three strikes against her above and beyond being a woman. She was a Samaritan, a half-breed race despised by Jews of good standing, known to be living in sin [several husbands and a live-in one now], and this was a public place -- a veritable town center. A respectable Jewish male would NEVER talk to a woman under these circumstances.
Oh, but there is One who found her worthy of great love, who treated her as one of God's own children (for such she was). Jesus looked into her eyes and quietly asked, "Will you give me a drink?" to which the woman replies that she is a Samaritan and He is a Jew. How could He be asking her for a drink of water? (Jews and Samaritans despised one another with the same vehemence of today's Irish Protestants and Catholics, or the Jews and Arabs of the Middle East.)
Jesus calmly told her that if she knew "the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." [John 4:10] She must have been quite puzzled. Jesus had no bucket or rope and Jacob's Well was probably 100 feet deep at this time, there was no way He was going to be able to offer her water. Besides, a Jew would have never offered anything to a Samaritan, and the feeling was quite mutual. She may well have thought He was playing some sort of cruel trick on her.
While the woman mistakes His offer as one of truly unique physical water (the Evian of her day), Jesus is of course speaking of "eternal life", or the promised Holy Spirit, but this is not understood at the time. In the Old Testament, God is referred to as the "fountain of Life" and as the "spring of living water." By telling this woman that he could bring living water, Jesus was in effect claiming that he could quench a person's thirst for God. Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah!
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman