Luke 10:33-37

Luke 10:33-37. But a certain Samaritan, &c. Soon after this, a Samaritan happened to come that way, and seeing a fellow-creature lying on the road naked and wounded, went up to him; and though he found it was one of a different nation, who professed a religion opposed to his own, the violent hatred of all such persons, that had been instilled into his mind from his earliest years, and all other objections, were immediately silenced by the feelings of pity awakened at the sight of the man’s distress; his bowels yearned toward the Jew, and he hastened, with great tenderness, to give him assistance. It was admirably well judged, to represent the distress on the side of the Jew, and the mercy on that of the Samaritan. For the case being thus proposed, self-interest would make the very scribe sensible how amiable such a conduct was, and would lay him open to our Lord’s inference. Had it been put the other way, prejudice might more easily have interposed, before the heart could have been affected. And went to him and bound up his wounds, &c. It seems this humane traveller, according to the custom of those times, carried his provisions along with him; for he was able, though in the fields, to give the wounded man some wine to recruit his spirits. Moreover, he carefully bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, which, when well beaten together, are said to be one of the best balsams that can be applied to a fresh wound; then, setting him on his own beast, he walked by him on foot and supported him. In this manner did the good Samaritan carry the Jew, his enemy, to the first inn he could find, where he carefully attended him all that night; and on the morrow, when he was going away, he delivered him over to the care of the host, with a particular recommendation to be very kind to him. And, that nothing necessary for his recovery might be wanting, he gave the host what money he could spare, a sum about equal to fifteen pence with us, desiring him, at the same time, to lay out more, if more were needful, and promising to pay the whole at his return. It seems he was afraid the mercenary temper of the host might have hindered him from furnishing what was necessary, if he had no prospect of being repaid. Thus we see, “All the circumstances of this beautiful parable are formed with the finest skill imaginable, to work the conviction designed; so that had the lawyer been ever so much disposed to reckon none his neighbours but men of his own religion, it was not in his power to do it on this occasion. And, although favours from a Samaritan had always been represented to him as an abomination, more detestable than the eating of swine’s flesh, he was obliged to acknowledge, that not the priest or the Levite, but this Samaritan, by discharging a great office of humanity toward the Jew in distress, was truly his neighbour, and deserved his love more than some of his own nation, who sustained the most venerable characters; that the like humanity was due from any Israelite to a Samaritan who stood in need of it; and that all men are neighbours to all men, how much soever they may be distinguished from one another in respect of country, or kindred, or language, or religion. Mankind are intimately knit together by their common wants and weaknesses, being so formed that they cannot live without the assistance of each other, and therefore the relation that subsists between them is as extensive as their natures; and the obligations under which they lie, to aid one another by mutual good offices, are as strong and urgent as every man’s own manifold necessities. By this admirable parable, therefore, our Lord has powerfully recommended that universal benevolence, which is so familiar in the mouths, but foreign to the hearts of many ignorant pretenders to religion and morality. It would appear that the presumption of the Jews in matters of religion exceeded all bounds; for though the Supreme Being pays little regard to mere outward worship, and is much more delighted with the inward homage of a holy and benevolent mind, yet because they prayed daily in his temple, and offered sacrifices there, and carried about his precepts written on their phylacteries, and had God and the law always in their mouths, they made no doubt but they worshipped God acceptably, notwithstanding they were so enormously wicked, that they would not put themselves to the smallest expense or trouble, though they could have saved life by it; and therefore had no real love to God or their neighbour. This monstrous presumption being entirely subversive of true religion, our Lord thought fit to condemn it in the severest manner, and to brand it with the blackest and most lasting note of infamy in the above charming parable.” Macknight. Jesus, having finished the parable, said to the lawyer, Which now of these three was neighbour, &c. Which acted the part of a neighbour? And he said, He that showed mercy on him This reply the lawyer made without hesitation, being greatly struck with the truth and evidence of the case. Indeed he could not for shame say otherwise. In speaking thus, however, he condemned himself, and overthrew his own false notion of the neighbour to whom his love was due. Go, and do thou likewise Show mercy and kindness to every one that stands in need of thy assistance, whether he be an Israelite, a heathen, or a Samaritan; and when works of charity are to be performed, reckon every man thy neighbour, not inquiring what he believes, but what he suffers. Reader, let us attend to, and diligently put in practice, our Lord’s advice to this lawyer: let us go and do likewise, regarding every man as our neighbour who needs our assistance. Let us renounce that bigotry and party zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race, but a small number, whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self-love reflected. With an honest openness of mind let us always remember the kindred between man and man, and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other.