Jesus Our Good Samaritan

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Luke 10:30-37 (KJV)

The man in this account- an account shared by Jesus- represents all of us. He was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and robbers attacked him. We were all going down as well; we were on a downward road of destruction. The robbers represent satan and his demons, who took us captive when we fell, stripped us bare, beat us, and left us dead in our sins.

The priest and Levite speak of religion, which cannot and will not help us. When others turned away, the good Samaritan came along, who represents our Savior, Jesus. Jesus saw us in our hurting, dying condition and helped us. He bound up our wounds. He poured in the oil of His love and wine of healing in us by His Spirit and blood. He took care of our sorry condition and brought us to the inn, which is a picture of the House of God, which is to be a place of care and recovery.

The Samaritan placed the injured man in the care of the innkeeper. Jesus placed us in the care of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cares for us until our good Samaritan, the Lord, comes back for us.

And the things that Jesus did for us, He tells us to go and do the same for others. We are to show mercy and love the way that Jesus loves. If we do this, Jesus says that we will be a true neighbor like Him.