An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”  But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”  Luke 10:25-37

This Sunday we hear one of Jesus’ most beloved and well-known parables. Alongside the Prodigal Son, the story of the Good Samaritan is famous not just within the church but around the world. There are Good Samaritan hospitals, Good Samaritan care centers, even Good Samaritan laws—testimony to the deep impact of this story across time and culture.

Its popularity has also led to a wide range of interpretations, especially allegorical ones. In this reading, the man journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho becomes Adam cast out of Eden. The robbers are Satan and his demons. The priest and the Levite represent the failure of the Law and the Prophets to bring salvation. The Samaritan stands in for Christ. The oil and wine are sacraments. The inn is the church.

While allegory can be illuminating, it can also risk reinforcing harmful ideas—especially anti-Jewish ones. Too often, Christian interpretations portray the priest and Levite as cold-hearted or bound by a religion of legalism, while casting the Samaritan as the enlightened Christian who brings true compassion. This not only misrepresents Judaism, which also commands love of neighbor and stranger alike, but flattens the complexity of the story.

It’s important to remember that Jesus’ original audience didn’t need a parable to be told to care for the vulnerable. That was already part of their faith. Even the lawyer questioning Jesus can quote chapter and verse.  The priest and Levite—like all of us—were people shaped by real fears and complex responsibilities. They weren’t heartless, but human.

One of the most powerful explanations for their failure to act comes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a sermon on this parable, he said:

“It’s possible these men were afraid. … And so the first question that the priest and the Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ … But then the Good Samaritan came by and reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”

Jesus tells his famous story in response to a lawyer’s question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” and the follow-up: “And who is my neighbor?” But Jesus doesn’t quite answer either. Instead, he reframes the questions entirely.

The lawyer wants to talk about eternal life, and Jesus shifts the conversation to how one lives now—how one practices mercy in the present moment. The lawyer wants to define the boundaries of responsibility—who counts as a neighbor? Jesus tells a story that instead reveals what a neighbor does. In other words, the question isn’t “Who is my neighbor?” but “How can I be one?”

And the answer, as always with Jesus, is found not in allegory, history or theory, but in action:

“Go and do likewise.”