Article February 8, 1947 Issue

Are We Good Samaritans?

JANE W. MC KEE

There is a highway, much traveled by humankind, the signposts of which are highly important to note. One leads to Jericho, and the other to Jerusalem. It is interesting to learn that Jericho was the first city to oppose the progress of the children of Israel after they had crossed the Jordan. One Bible dictionary tells us that while Jericho is noted for its fertility, its site is "unhealthy for man." To the Hebrews. Jerusalem meant "foundation of peace, secure habitation."

In the much-loved parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35) our Master tells of a man who "went down from Jerusalem to Jericho." In its spiritual import we know that one who turns from the heavenly heights of Jerusalem is on the road down. Little wonder, then, that he "fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead."

A student of Christian Science, coming upon this parable in the Lesson-Sermon she was studying from the Christian Science Quarterly, saw in it new beauty and truth heretofore undiscovered. Why had she always thought of the needy one as someone other than herself? Might not the one fallen among thieves sometimes be one's human consciousness, so mesmerized by mortal mind that it mistakes the right road? Soon the student had opportunity to bring the lesson home.

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