Bible Besties | The Good Samaritan

Today’s Bible Besties devotion is about The Good Samaritan.

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

Luke 10:36

Devotion for Today

Beaten, stripped down, and left on the side of the road lay a heap of a man.

First a priest passed by and saw him laying there, half dead. Instead of checking to see if he needed help, the priest crossed to the other side of the road to avoid him.

Then there was a Levite. Like the priest, he crossed to the other side of the road to avoid the man.

Then came a Samaritan. Samaritans were despised by the Jews and looked down on for being pagan (even though they worshiped the same God). But the Samaritan didn’t cross to the other side of the road. Instead, he had compassion on the man and stopped to help him. Binding up his wounds, taking him to an inn, and paying for his care.

When Jesus told this parable, He asked the man to whom He spoke which of the three had been a good neighbor to the man who had been beaten. The obvious answer was the one who showed him mercy—the Samaritan.

Sometimes we need someone to remind us to do the right thing, even when it’s not necessarily the fun thing or the glamorous thing.

Picking up a dirty, naked man off the road isn’t for the faint of heart. Not only because the task itself is unpleasant, but in biblical times it would have rendered the one giving aid unclean himself. So it wasn’t just about helping, it was about helping someone at great cost to yourself.

Are we willing to do that?

Are we willing to meet people in their hour of need—even when it’s not exactly convenient for us? That’s what the Samaritan did. He was a good neighbor and a good influence.

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