The Good Samaritan parable is known by church goers as well as non-followers. The phrase “good Samaritan” itself has worked its way into normal speech to describe the random passerby who helps pull a driver from a wrecked car or stops a purse snatcher fleeing from a retail store. When biblical stories become popularized, however, we can easily lose sight of what God intends to teach us through them. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is no exception.

When you think of a “good Samaritan,” what comes to mind? What qualities would you say characterize this type of person?

If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, then you know that a relationship with Jesus is full of interruptions. God constantly interrupts our lives with opportunities for course correction, if needed, or simply to grow in deeper intimacy with him. The only problem is that, like the priest and the Levite, we often fail to see those interruptions for what they are—divine opportunities.

How would viewing interruptions as divine opportunities change the way you react to them?

Based on the text as well as Jamin’s teaching, we know that the lawyer questioning Jesus wasn’t doing so out of pure motives. Verse 29 tells us that he queried Jesus out of a desire to justify his conviction that God did not require him to love everyone, but that he could retain certain prejudices. That’s why Jesus chose to respond in a way that passed over the lawyer’s question to answer the deeper question at play.

What question does Jesus seek to answer by telling the story of the Good Samaritan? Does God expect his people to love everyone?

Jesus makes it clear that his followers are meant to be known by a distinct love for God and a distinct love for others—not a love that seeks only to care for those we find lovable. Who do you find difficult to love? What are the “boundaries” you’ve set up for yourself toward loving them?

How does only loving those who are lovable fail to reflect the way God has loved us in Jesus?

Answering the lawyer, Jesus dives into a parable to teach the man what it looks like to be a neighbor. At its core, being a neighbor means loving others in a way that mirrors God’s heart. To that end, Jamin described two important ways we can do so:

• prioritizing likeness over difference
• others over self

When it came to the culture of Jesus’s time, Jamin pointed out that people determined their differences primarily by their clothing, their speech, and their physical appearance.

³⁰Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. – Luke 10:30 ESV

Based on Jesus’s description of the man, what can you tell about him in terms of his dress, speech, and appearance?

Now look at verses 31–32. Bear in mind that the priest and the Levite both bore all of the correct religious “labels”—they came from the right families and embraced the right faith.

³¹Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³²So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. – Luke 10:31-32 ESV

How do they respond to the interruption of the beaten man on the side of the road? Based on your answer to the previous question, what were they reacting to about the man? What specifically about him did they “pass by”?

Like Jamin explained in the session, the only distinct attribute the priest and Levite could discern about the victim was that he was a human—and that was not enough reason for them to stop and help him. Those who should have been the heroes of the story failed in their responsibilities, which is what makes Jesus’s next move all the more scandalous by introducing a Samaritan.

How did the Samaritan react to the beaten man? How does his reaction model love that prioritizes likeness over difference?

Withholding love from someone by judging them for their differences in no way displays the distinct love of God. It fails to love that person as someone made in the image of God. And our attitude toward the image demonstrates our attitude toward God himself. So not only does loving our neighbor require prioritizing likeness over difference, but it also means we must put others before self.

What does the meaning “love others over self” mean to you?

Based on verses 33–35, how does the Samaritan demonstrate this kind of distinct love?

The list gets long, doesn’t it? The Samaritan loves in a way that is costly, excessive even. Try to put yourself in his shoes: you are driving to work and see someone hurt and in need on the side of the road. What do you do? Interruptions are never convenient, but they are always divine opportunities because people are more important than our plans.

How does the story of the Good Samaritan reflect God’s love for you through his Son, Jesus? How has he made your problems his own?

As you think about God’s love for you in Christ, as well as what you have learned in this session, what are some ways that you can practice prioritizing likeness over difference this week? Who can you work at loving for the fact that they are made in the image of God?

And how can you practice loving others over self? Whose mess can you enter into with a heart of service, making their problems your own?

In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote that Jesus came to die for us, not once we had made ourselves worthy of his sacrifice, but while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). While we were at our worst, he took our problem and made it his own. Doing so was costly—it cost God his only Son—and excessive, as we now have the gift of eternal life with him through faith. We have hope because Jesus loves us in the distinct way described in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

As you go about your day in the weeks to come, you probably won’t stumble across a bloodied victim on the side of the road, but you will be surrounded by people. And every one of them share something in common with you—they are broken and in need of the distinct love of Christ. Whether it’s a coworker, a spouse, a child, or your actual neighbor, there are people around you who have messes in their lives and need encouragement in their struggles.

Embrace those interruptions. When they come your way, be a neighbor and love those around you with the distinct love God has shown you in Christ. It will be costly, but it is cost that God deemed worthy of paying to save you from your sin. Go, and do likewise.