Post by nathanb on Jul 29, 2008 9:18:09 GMT -5
1) Ram wrote:
In my opininion the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is extremely simple to understand, that even a child can grasp it.
The two great commandments of Christ are 1) to love God and 2) to love our neighbour as ourselves. (the second qualifies the first.
After giving these two new commandments Jesus was asked "who is my neighbour ?" Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to "define who our neighbour is."
The two new commandments are really a description of Christ in action. They describe him perfectly.
There is no need for long complicated spiritualised interpretations of the parable. It was used simply to explain who our neighbour is and gives a good example of how to assist those in need. At that time other factions hated the Jews and vice versa. Jesus was showing us that our neighbour is not limited to our friends, our neighbours, our fellowship members, the workers or anyone else. Our neighbour is anyone in need, including our perceived enemies.
The fictitious Samaritan was used to highlight the fact that a person can help their enemies when even the "neighbours" of the needy ignore them (in this case, the Priest and the Levite). Our enemies are our neighbours as much as anyone else.
~~~ I agree with your understanding on the parable of the good Samaritan. The moral of the parable was to show that the divine command of LOVING our neigbhor as ourself is fullfilled by the help the NEEDY, without asking first who he is, and in what relation he stands to us.
Written by H. L.
The Samaritans were half caste, a mixture of Jew and Gentile, therefore hated by the full-blooded Jew. Jews whould have no dealings with Samaritans, treating them as outcasts.
The Jews and Samaritans were locally closet neigbhors. They were morally most unneighborly.
Therefore the lawyer must have been amazed when Jesus introduced a Samaritan as the only on that lonely, dangerous Jerico road willing to befriend a helpless Jew. The very man from whom no needy Jew could expect the least relief, was the one who gave it.
~~~ There is a legitimate application of the parable. Did not God make humanity His neighbor? seeing a world of sinners robbed of their true nature, stripped of divine ideals, wounded by sins, unable to raise, God (the Son Jesus) came down in the Incarnation to where the sinner was and gave the world a corresponding example! in act of the merciful Samaritan, Christ through His Death, and Resurrection, cover our nakedness, bind up our wounds and heals them with a balm extracted from His own broken heart.
Not only so, but He puts us in a place of safety, provides for our needs, and has promised to return and take us to Himself. Therefore, the parable is radiant with the beauty of the Gospel of Christ who, in His life and death kept all the injunction given in this peerless parable.
In my opininion the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is extremely simple to understand, that even a child can grasp it.
The two great commandments of Christ are 1) to love God and 2) to love our neighbour as ourselves. (the second qualifies the first.
After giving these two new commandments Jesus was asked "who is my neighbour ?" Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to "define who our neighbour is."
The two new commandments are really a description of Christ in action. They describe him perfectly.
There is no need for long complicated spiritualised interpretations of the parable. It was used simply to explain who our neighbour is and gives a good example of how to assist those in need. At that time other factions hated the Jews and vice versa. Jesus was showing us that our neighbour is not limited to our friends, our neighbours, our fellowship members, the workers or anyone else. Our neighbour is anyone in need, including our perceived enemies.
The fictitious Samaritan was used to highlight the fact that a person can help their enemies when even the "neighbours" of the needy ignore them (in this case, the Priest and the Levite). Our enemies are our neighbours as much as anyone else.
~~~ I agree with your understanding on the parable of the good Samaritan. The moral of the parable was to show that the divine command of LOVING our neigbhor as ourself is fullfilled by the help the NEEDY, without asking first who he is, and in what relation he stands to us.
Written by H. L.
The Samaritans were half caste, a mixture of Jew and Gentile, therefore hated by the full-blooded Jew. Jews whould have no dealings with Samaritans, treating them as outcasts.
The Jews and Samaritans were locally closet neigbhors. They were morally most unneighborly.
Therefore the lawyer must have been amazed when Jesus introduced a Samaritan as the only on that lonely, dangerous Jerico road willing to befriend a helpless Jew. The very man from whom no needy Jew could expect the least relief, was the one who gave it.
~~~ There is a legitimate application of the parable. Did not God make humanity His neighbor? seeing a world of sinners robbed of their true nature, stripped of divine ideals, wounded by sins, unable to raise, God (the Son Jesus) came down in the Incarnation to where the sinner was and gave the world a corresponding example! in act of the merciful Samaritan, Christ through His Death, and Resurrection, cover our nakedness, bind up our wounds and heals them with a balm extracted from His own broken heart.
Not only so, but He puts us in a place of safety, provides for our needs, and has promised to return and take us to Himself. Therefore, the parable is radiant with the beauty of the Gospel of Christ who, in His life and death kept all the injunction given in this peerless parable.