Parable of the Good Samaritan

In Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan, a traveler is assaulted by thieves and left for dead. A Samaritan, or native of Samaria, helps him and brings him to an inn to be cared for.

Applications

The Good Samaritan may represent the Christian. Even when religious leaders, like the priest or Levite who passed by the hurt man, while not acknowledge a soul in despair, the Christian will. He rescues the heathan man from death on the side of the road. The Jews hated the Samaritans; they were half-breeds, a mix of Jews and Gentiles. This makes the irony greater that the Jew, robbed and beaten, was aided by a Samaritan, much like the Christians today are persecuted by God-denying heathans.

The Good Samaritan may represent Jesus Christ, who saves the sould on the road to destruction, putting him on the right path. The Jew had been travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho, which is a road downhill, from the city of God to the cursed city, origianlly belonging to the Cannanites. The interpretation is that the man is on his way to hell, and along the dangerous road he is attacked. The Lord rescues him from sin, curing his wounds with oil, carrying him "on his own beast. Luke 10:34" Jesus brings him to the inn, which represents the church, and provides the saints there with the rescorces ("two pence" Luke 10:35) to nurse him back to health. The Samaritan sayes "Take care of him; and whatesoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." In the same way, Jesus will come again and reward his church for tending to lost souls.