Being a good Samaritan

I was on a subway when a man started verbally abusing a fellow passenger with racist slurs and aggressive threats. Suddenly I found myself moving to stand between the beleaguered teenager and the ranting man. In the past I had determinedly avoided confrontations! And yet, here I was, feeling impelled to place myself right in a situation that seemed increasingly violent and dangerous.

At that point I couldn’t know how this would play out, but I realized why I was doing what I was doing. I was literally being moved by compassion to express the selfless, Christly love identified in Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan. At a time when life is unfamiliar and hard, and societies seem stirred up, Christ Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan presents an incredible model for how we can navigate these scenes.

Jesus shared the timeless parable in response to a question presented to him by a lawyer (see Luke 10:25-37). When Jesus told the man that loving one’s neighbor was necessary to worship truly, the lawyer replied, “And who is my neighbour?”

Jesus began his parable by describing a traveler who had been robbed, stripped of his clothing, wounded, and left for dead on the side of the road. He spoke of a priest and a Levite, religious men who avoided the wounded man by crossing to the other side of the road.

The third passerby was a Samaritan. For Jesus’ audience, the introduction of a Samaritan, someone most Jews would have viewed as socially and religiously inferior, would have elicited a negative reaction. With his use of the Samaritan, Jesus taught that we must not limit our expectancy of others’ ability to do good and be good.

In her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, beautifully described how Jesus saw every person he came into contact with. She understood that instead of perceiving man, meaning both men and women, as fallen, sick, or evil, Jesus saw a perfect man created by a perfect God. She writes, “In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy” (p. 477).

Perhaps the Samaritan recognized this intrinsic goodness in the wounded man, because he helped him with immediate, indiscriminate compassion. With tender care, the Samaritan bound up the man’s wounds, “pouring in oil and wine.”

The Glossary in Science and Health offers this spiritual sense of the Bible’s use of the word “oil”: “Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration” (p. 592). It similarly defines “wine,” in part, as “inspiration; understanding” (p. 598).

We might say that it was through heavenly inspiration and understanding that the Samaritan prayerfully poured love, gentleness, and comfort into the situation. Since Jesus’ own glorious expression of divine Love included a commitment to seeing the value, goodness, and perfection of everyone that he met, it makes sense that the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable would represent the idea of cherishing man’s perfect, spiritual nature in thought. It seems to me that Jesus was using the Samaritan to teach about the Christ, the healing and saving power of God that is ever acting on our behalf.

Back on that subway train, Christ was impelling me to provide immediate practical care for this girl and loving and protective prayer that affirmed her safety as God’s loved child, made in God’s image. As I moved closer to the girl, I had to handle a flash of fear. I needed to understand that this man was also a child of God. I affirmed that God’s child wasn’t violent, racist, or mentally ill. God’s man is loving, kind, and of a sound mind.

The girl and I smiled at each other as I created a physical buffer between her and the man. Soon, another person intentionally joined me, and the girl was completely cocooned from the abuse. The entire time, I never stopped praying to affirm the safety and goodness of all involved.

Eventually the man’s threats subsided. Soon after, the girl got off at her stop, and I was left in grateful awe of how God protects and loves His children. This is the spiritual love we can express toward everyone we come into contact with.

The good Samaritan parable couldn’t be more relevant today. At a time when many people are feeling isolated, frightened, and abandoned, why not bring healing and comfort to those in need!

Adapted from an article published on sentinel.christianscience.com, July 2, 2020.