We don't really know; Jesus' story doesn't say.

The story is a parable told by Christ Jesus about a good neighbor. From the Gospel of Luke, it opens with a question from a lawyer who asks Jesus how to gain eternal life (see 10:25–37). Jesus turns the question back to the lawyer, who answers "by the book" about loving God and loving one's neighbor. Jesus agrees with his answer. But the lawyer presses—asking Jesus to describe his neighbor.

Then follows the much-loved parable of the good Samaritan—the story of a traveler from Jerusalem to Jericho who is beaten and robbed along the way. In Jesus' illustration, a priest passes by without offering help, and a Levite does the same. Then a Samaritan traveling the road sees the traveler's plight, goes to him, and cares for the injured man before going his own way.

The gospel account concludes with Jesus' counsel to the lawyer to go and do likewise.

The parable has lived in the hearts of good people for centuries. It is central to Jesus' teachings about compassion and neighborliness. It is a favorite in sermons and Sunday School. The deeds of that metaphorical Samaritan have become a universal example of goodness and unselfishness.

We know nothing more of the real-life lawyer who was the object of Jesus' small sermon. Possibly he went on, chastened by the lesson of love.

The Samaritan, while we know nothing of his business or financial condition, bound up the traveler's wounds, and found and paid for his lodging. Even as a player in a parable spoken so long ago, the Samaritan lives on today in receptive, generous hearts.

The priest and the Levite in the parable are examples of lack of capacity for neighborliness. Having performed their parts, they pass by and vanish from the stage of thought.

The compassion to help a neighbor in need is a deeply natural spiritual quality. Jesus took that compassion to unprecedented heights. He taught, he healed, he preached, he patiently tended his chosen flock of disciples. Jesus fed thousands. He cared for the spiritual well-being of multitudes. He was the ultimate good neighbor in words and works. He, as the Son of God, lifted those whose lives he touched closer to their own sonship. His life-example gave him the authority to say to the lawyer, "Go, and do thou likewise," and to his disciples, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, case out devils: freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8).

The good neighbor parable has great meaning today to those who have encountered the Science of the Christ as taught by Christ Jesus and as rediscovered by Mary Baker Eddy and explained in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The Bible, with its glorious teachings, healings, and prophecies of the Christ, and the coming of Christian Science, give to the world the ultimate spiritual capacity to "love thy neighbour as thyself."

Going to the "other side of the road," answering a call for help from another traveler on life's sometimes bumpy road, is a spiritual opportunity. Mrs. Eddy puts the traveler's needs in these words from her text on Christian Science: "Millions of unprejudiced minds—simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert—are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences" (Science and Health, p. 570).

One more lesson from the parable—the terminated role of the priest and Levite. They do not return to mock or deride the Samaritan—to accuse him of mistakes in neighborliness. They do not try to convince others that he was wrong in the care he provided. The two passers-by do not complain to the innkeeper to whom the Samaritan took the traveler for shelter. The priest and the Levite may not have had the capacity for being good neighbors, but they left alone the one who did.

John L. Selover
Manager, The Christian Science Publishing Society