The Bible Never Calls Him "Good"

A stranger stops on I-75 to help you change a flat in the August heat. What do you call him? "A good Samaritan." Somebody returns your wallet with all the cash still in it: "A good Samaritan." Florida even has a Good Samaritan Act on the books to protect folks who help in an emergency.

This is one of those phrases that's soaked into our culture. Non-Christians say it. People who have never opened a Bible say it. But I'd bet most folks have no idea what the story is actually about. And here's a little etymology surprise: the word "good" isn't in it.

The question behind the story

Turn with me to Luke 10. It starts with a question:

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25)

This isn't a courtroom lawyer. This man is an expert in the law of Moses, the kind of guy who can quote you chapter and verse every time you mess up. Jesus asks him what the law says, and he nails it: love God with everything you've got, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live" (Luke 10:28).

That should've been good news. But deep down, the man knows he hasn't done it. Nobody has. So he looks for a loophole:

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29)

The story

So Jesus tells a story. Remember, a parable is a story Jesus made up to prove a point. A man is going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, a steep, winding road with plenty of places for robbers to hide. He gets jumped, stripped, beaten, and left half dead.

A priest comes by and passes on the other side. A Levite, another temple worker, does the same. Everybody listening figures the next guy will be the hero, an ordinary Israelite who does the right thing. But Jesus says:

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. (Luke 10:33)

I can just hear the crowd gasp. A Samaritan? Jews and Samaritans had centuries of bad blood. John's Gospel says it plainly: "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9). The hero of Jesus' story is the last person that lawyer wanted to be compared to.

The Samaritan bandages the man, pours on oil and wine, puts him on his own animal so he has to walk himself, pays for his room, and promises to cover whatever else it costs.

Then Jesus asks which one proved to be a neighbor. And watch this: the lawyer won't even say the word "Samaritan." He says, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus answers, "You go, and do likewise" (Luke 10:37).

Where "good" came from

Read it again. Jesus never calls him "good." He's just "a Samaritan." The "Good Samaritan" label came later, from the way Christians titled and talked about the story, and it stuck so well that today it shows up on hospital names and in state law.

There's nothing wrong with that. But when we turn the parable into "be nice to strangers," we miss what Jesus was doing. He wasn't mainly handing out a merit badge for kindness. He was answering a man who wanted to justify himself.

So where does that leave us?

Jesus held up the standard: love your neighbor the way that Samaritan did, extravagantly, at your own cost, with no limit. Then he said go do it. Have you done that every day of your life, for every person, even people you can't stand? I haven't.

That's the point. You can't justify yourself. You have zero power to cover what's already done. The standard is higher than any of us can reach, and the law shows us we need a Savior.

And that Savior came. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When you're forgiven like that, you start to love like that, not to earn anything but because you've been given everything.

I'm just a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Stop trying to justify yourself, run to Jesus, and then go stop for somebody on the side of the road.