Are you a good Samaritan?

In Luke chapter 10 we read Yeshua/Jesus' teaching on the good Samaritan. In this story, two men, a Cohen and a Levi, walk past an injured, possibly dead man while a Samaritan stops to help him. Many people do not grasp some of the more subtle issues of this story.

First, the Cohen and Levi represent the most pious people of Yeshua/Jesus' day, while the Samaritan represents the untouchables in this same society. It is easy to simply write off the Cohen and Levi as simply uncaring, but that is selling them short. To a Cohen or Levi, their entire lives might have been devoted to obtaining ritual purity as a method of drawing closer to God. Since coming in contact with a dead body is one of the worst threats to ritual impurity, it is defendable that this is what caused them to avoid the man in the ditch.

Regarding the Good Samaritan, it took the following quote from Margaret Thatcher for me to realize the depth of his respons:

“No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions - he had money too!”

Not only did the Samaritan stop to help, but he spent a significant amount of his own money to feed and shelter the man.

It appears to me that Yeshua/Jesus is showing us which character traits he considers most important.

I posted the following response to a blog that was discussing the acceptance of Gentiles into the Messianic Jewish congregations:



In 1982 I moved from Illinois to Oregon. I was told to quickly change my license because Oregonians did not like outsiders and would even vandalize the cars that did not have Oregon plates..

When we moved to Colorado 12 years ago, I was surprised by the attitudes directed at me by lifelong residents of Colorado. It was as if not having that "Native" bumper sticker on your car made you less of a person. I found it interesting that both states' residents had the attitude of "Look at what makes our states special, but don't come here to enjoy them."

When we moved to a small town on the plains three years ago, I was shocked to find that same condescending air of hostility from the town's residents. It doesn't matter what your status is from doctor to business owner to feedlot dung collector, "if you weren't born in this town then you are less than me."

I am now experiencing it in the Messianic community and I would like to say that my past experiences have made me better able to handle being treated as a second class citizen. But I cannot. I believe that my God judges me by my character and not that I came from Illinois.

According to the New Testament, Yeshua did not spend a lot of time teaching on the specific halachic issues of his day. Whether that proves that he supported them, however, can never be completely substantiated.

On the other hand he did spend a lot of time teaching on character issues that he believed were important and that can be completely substantiated.

Until we put the issues that our Messiah considered most important first, there is absolutely no way that we can be doing the proper walk. Five years ago my wife and I stopped attending Messianic congregations because we decided we would rather be surrounded by people who have a spirit-filled love of God and who actively care for their fellow man than talit covered self-seeking people who would walk past an injured man on the road.

I would ask that you ask yourself, are you a Cohen, a Levi or a Samaritan?

As for me, I would rather judge a man by the strength of his character than by the color of his Tekhelet.

Shalom, Jeff.