Parable of the Good Samaritan.

  31 And by chance a certain priest was going down that way [a very natural thing for a priest to do, for there was a very large priestly settlement at Jericho]: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. [He did this although the law commanded mercy and help to a neighbor-- Exodus 23:4 ; Deuteronomy 22:1-4 .]

  32 And in like manner a Levite also [A temple minister. The tribe of Levi had been set apart by God for his service], when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. [In the priest and Levite the lawyer saw the picture of his own life, for he saw in them those who knew the law, but did not practice it. There may have been many excuses for this neglect of the wounded man: danger, hate, dread of defilement, expense, but Jesus does not consider any of them worth mentioning.]

  33 But a certain Samaritan [the hereditary enemy of the Jew-- John 4:9 ], where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion,

  34 and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine

[the ordinary remedies for wounds-- Isaiah 1:6 ]; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

  35 And on the morrow he took out two shillings

[the shilling or denarius was worth about seventeen cents, but it represented the price of a day's labor], and gave them to the host [the inn-keeper], and said, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, I, when I come back again, will repay thee. [The compassion of the Samaritan bore full fruitage. However heterodox he was, he was after all a worshiper of Jehovah and more orthodox at heart than either the priest or the Levite. Though it was not customary for an inn-keeper to furnish food either for man or beast, he could do so if he chose out of his own stores. The scant cash left by the Samaritan indicates a poverty which made his charity the more praiseworthy. His eye and heart and hand and foot and purse were all subservient to the law of God.]

  34 and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine

  35 And on the morrow he took out two shillings

  36 Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers? [Instead of answering didactically, "Everybody is your neighbor," Jesus had incarnated the law of neighborliness in the good Samaritan, and had made it so beautiful that the lawyer could not but commend it even when found in a representative of this apostate race. He showed, too, that the law was not for causistry but for practice.]

  37 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. [The lawyer avoided the name Samaritan so distasteful to his lips. Jesus gave countenance to no such racial prejudice, even though the Samaritans had rejected him but a few weeks before this-- Luke 9:53 .] Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. [All the laws and teachings of God are to be generously interpreted ( Matthew 5:43 Matthew 5:44 ) and are to be embodied in the life-- Matthew 7:24-27 .]