Christ, The Good Samaritan

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10:25-37.
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"
He said in reply, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
He replied to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.'
Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian
Homilies on Saint Luke's Gospel, 34, 3.7-9; GCS 9, 201-202.204-205. (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)

Christ, the Good Samaritan

To interpret the parable of the Good Samaritan, one of the elders used to say that the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho was Adam. He said Jerusalem was paradise, Jericho was the world, and the brigands were enemy powers. The priest was the law, the levite the prophets, and the Samaritan Christ. Adam's wounds were his disobedience, the animal that carried him was the body of the Lord... and the promised return of the Samaritan, according to this interpeter, was a figure of the Second Coming of the Savior...

This Samaritan bore our sins and suffered on our behalf; he carried the half dead man to the inn which takes in everyone, denying no one its help; in other words, to the Church. To this inn Jesus invites all when he says: «Come to me, all who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you new strength» After bringing in the man half dead the Samaritan did not immediately depart, but remained and dressed his wounds by night as well as by day, showing his concern and doing everything he could for him... This guardian of souls «who showed mercy to the man who fell into the hands of brigands» was a better neighbor to him than were either the law or the prophets, and he proved this more by deeds than by words.

Now the saying: «be imitators of me as I am of Christ» makes it clear that we can imitate Christ by showing mercy to those who have «fallen into the hands of brigands». We can go to them, bandage their wounds after pouring in oil and wine, place them on our own mount, and bear their burdens. And so the Son of God exhorts us to do these things, in words addressed not only to the teacher of the law but to all of us: «Go and do likewise.»