But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Luke 10:33–34
Devotional Message
Jesus tells this parable to answer “Who is my neighbor?” and His answer dismantles every boundary you use to limit compassion. “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was” is shocking detail—Jews and Samaritans hated each other, considered each other heretics, avoided contact whenever possible. Yet this Samaritan, the one His Jewish audience would consider enemy, becomes the hero of the story. The religious leaders passed by; the outsider stopped.
“When he saw him, he took pity on him” reveals the movement from seeing to feeling to acting. The Samaritan doesn’t just notice the wounded man and keep walking—he allows himself to be moved by what he sees, lets compassion disrupt his journey, permits another’s suffering to become his concern. “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine” describes costly care—the Samaritan uses his own supplies, risks his own safety by staying with a vulnerable person on a dangerous road, invests his own resources in someone who cannot repay him.
The parable challenges every impulse to limit compassion to people like you—same religion, same politics, same ethnicity, same values. Your neighbor isn’t just the person who looks like you or believes like you but anyone whose suffering you encounter, including (especially) those you’ve been taught to consider enemy. The contemplative question isn’t “Does this person deserve my help?” but “Am I willing to be interrupted by suffering when I encounter it?” The Samaritan’s compassion crossed every social boundary his culture constructed, and Jesus holds him up as the model to follow.
Let’s Pray
Jesus, give me the Samaritan’s eyes to see suffering and heart to be moved by it. When I encounter someone in need—especially someone different from me—help me cross whatever boundaries keep me from compassion. Teach me that my neighbor is anyone whose suffering I encounter. Make me willing to be interrupted, inconvenienced, and costly in love. Amen.
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