We have turned the Good Samaritan parable into a mushy morality tale. You know, be like the Good Samaritan and show kindness to people. We have tamed this provocative short story and blunted its subversive impact. Make no mistake, when Jesus first spoke this parable, it had a real bite to it. You may remember this famous parable about “a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho” (Luke 10.30). His listeners would have known that the fifteen mile stretch of road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a notorious highway where robbers preyed on unsuspecting travelers. Sure enough, this traveling man is robbed and left for dead by the side of the road. A priest walks by, yet this man of the cloth chooses to ignore the injured man’s plight. Next, a Levite, who assists priests with their religious duties, also disregards the man in the ditch. Then Jesus introduces the surprise element into his parable, “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, took pity on him” (Luke 10.33). Inserting a Samaritan into the hero’s role is a shocker since Samaritans are considered rogue Jews. There’s no such thing as a Good Samaritan. There are only bad Samaritans. The only good Samaritan is a dead Samaritan.
This Good Samaritan parable came to mind in connection to today’s prayer. Sarah Williams (1838-1868) sent her former instructor, Edward Pumptre, a set of poems she had written in 1868, knowing that her rapidly spreading cancer would likely claim her young life. Edward had been her classics professor at Queens College, London, in earlier years and had encouraged Sarah to publish her poems. Her first collection, Rainbows in Springtide, was published under her pseudonym “Sadie” in 1866. Shortly after Edward received her poems, Sarah died, leaving Edward to publish her poems posthumously under her given name with the title Twilight Hours. One such poem simply titled “Penitence” was later turned into the hymn, “Before I Knew Not When My Life Was Good.” One stanza among eight in her poem references this Good Samaritan parable:
Sarah Williams
Because I held upon my selfish road,
And left my brother wounded, by the way,
And called ambition duty, and pressed on –
O Lord, I do repent.
Sarah Williams, Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse, 1868.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.