The Good Samaritan

Story

One day, a Jewish lawyer asks Jesus how to get to inherit eternal life. The answer is to love God and your neighbour, so the lawyer asks who your neighbour is. Jesus responds with a parable: a man travels along a road and is attacked by robbers. Left for dead, a priest and Levite pass by without helping. Then a Samaritan arrives, a man from a group who usually dislike Jews. What will he do?

Why we chose it

One of the best known of the parables of Jesus with a universal message about how to treat others.

Where it came from

The story comes from the Gospel of Luke, one of the four gospels which records Jesus’ teaching and the events of his life. It is found in the ‘second half’ of the Christian Bible called the New Testament. In first century C.E. the Samaritans and Jews had a very difficult relationship which makes the end of this story particularly surprising.

Where it went next

The phrase ‘good Samaritan’ has entered common language and is understood to mean someone who goes out of their way to help someone else. This famous story has inspired art (Vincent Van Gough, Rembrandt) and poetry (Henry Lawson). Benjamin Britten wrote a piece based on the Latin text of the parable (1963). It has also been turned into a short film Samaritan (2006), set in modern times.

Associated stories

In Luke’s Gospel someone else asks Jesus how they can inherit eternal life. Jesus answers differently, telling them to sell everything and give it to the poor. When they leave, sad because they are very rich, Jesus says the famous saying – “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25).