Parable of the Good Samaritan

The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.^[1] It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. A Jewish priest and then a Levite come by, both avoiding the man. A Samaritan happens upon him, and though Samaritans and Jews were generally antagonistic toward each other, helps him. Jesus tells the parable in response to a provocative question from a lawyer in the context of the Great Commandment: "And who is my neighbor?" The conclusion is that the neighbor figure in the parable is the one who shows mercy to their fellow man and/or woman.

Some Christians, such as Augustine, have interpreted the parable allegorically, with the Samaritan representing Jesus Christ, who saves the sinful soul.^[2] Others discount this allegory as unrelated to the parable's original meaning^[2] and see the parable as exemplifying the ethics of Jesus.^[3]

The parable has inspired painting, sculpture, satire, poetry, photography, film, and many others. The phrase "Good Samaritan", meaning someone who helps a stranger, derives from this parable, and many hospitals and charitable organizations are named after the Good Samaritan. The word "Samaritan" has also gained, besides the ethnoreligious meaning, the sense of a charitable person.