Luke 10:30-37New International Version (NIV)

Road from Jerusalem to Jericho

In the time of Jesus, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious for its danger and difficulty, and was known as the "Way of Blood" because "of the blood which is often shed there by robbers".[5] Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, on the day before his death, described the road as follows:

As soon as we got on that road I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road ... In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking, and he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?"[6]

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Samaritans and Jesus

Jesus's target audience, the Jews, hated Samaritans[7] to such a degree that they destroyed the Samaritans' temple on Mt. Gerizim.[8]Due to this hatred, some think that the Lawyer's phrase "The one who had mercy on him" (Luke 10:37a) may indicate a reluctance to name the Samaritan.[9] Or, on another, more positive note, it may indicate that the lawyer has recognized that both his questions have been answered and now concludes by generally expressing that anyone behaving thus is a Lev 19:18 "neighbour" eligible to inherit eternal life.[10] The Samaritans in turn hated the Jews.[11] Tensions were particularly high in the early decades of the 1st century because Samaritans had desecrated the Jewish Temple at Passover with human bones.[12]

As the story reached those who were unaware of the oppression of the Samaritans, this aspect of the parable became less and less discernible: fewer and fewer people ever heard of them in any context other than as a description. Today, the story is often recast in a more modern setting where the people are ones in equivalent social groups known not to interact comfortably. Thus, cast appropriately, the parable regains its message to modern listeners: namely, that an individual of a social group they disapprove of can exhibit moral behavior that is superior to individuals of the groups they approve. Christians have used it as an example of Christianity's opposition to racial, ethnic, and sectarian prejudice.[13][14] For example, anti-slavery campaigner William Jay described clergy who ignored slavery as "following the example of the priest and Levite".[15] Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, described the Samaritan as "a man of another race".[6] Sundee Tucker Frazier saw the Samaritan more specifically as an example of a mixed-race person.[16] Klyne Snodgrass wrote: "On the basis of this parable we must deal with our own racism but must also seek justice for, and offer assistance to, those in need, regardless of the group to which they belong."[17]

Samaritans appear elsewhere in the Gospels and Book of Acts. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus heals ten lepers and only the Samaritan among them thanks him (Luke 17:11–19),[12] although Luke 9:51–56 depicts Jesus receiving a hostile reception in Samaria.[7] Luke's favorable treatment of Samaritans is in line with Luke's favorable treatment of the weak and of outcasts, generally.[18] In John, Jesus has an extended dialogue with a Samaritan woman, and many Samaritans come to believe in him.[19] In Matthew, however, Jesus instructs his disciples not to preach in heathen or Samaritan cities (Matthew 10:5–8).[12] In the Gospels, generally, "though the Jews of Jesus' day had no time for the 'half-breed' people of Samaria",[20] Jesus "never spoke disparagingly about them"[20] and "held a benign view of Samaritans".[21]

Many see the model for the Samaritan's neighborly behavior in the parable to be 2Chronicles 28:8–15, in which Northern Israelite ancestors of Samaritans treat Judean enemies as fellow-Israelite neighbors.[22] After comparing the earlier account with the later parable presented to the expert in Israel's religious law, Evans concludes: "Given the number and significance of these parallels and points of correspondence it is hard to imagine how a first-century scholar of Scripture could hear the parable and not think of the story of the merciful Samaritans of 2 Chronicles 28."[23]

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Priests and Levites

In Jewish culture, contact with a dead body was understood to be defiling.[12] Priests were particularly enjoined to avoid uncleanness.[12] The priest and Levite may therefore have assumed that the fallen traveler was dead and avoided him to keep themselves ritually clean.[12] On the other hand, the depiction of travel downhill (from Jerusalem to Jericho) may indicate that their temple duties had already been completed, making this explanation less likely,[24] although this is disputed.[7] Since the Mishnah made an exception for neglected corpses,[7] the priest and the Levite could have used the law to justify both touching a corpse and ignoring it.[7] In any case, passing by on the other side avoided checking "whether he was dead or alive".[25] Indeed, "it weighed more with them that he might be dead and defiling to the touch of those whose business was with holy things than that he might be alive and in need of care."[25]