Does the Gospel imply that the victim in the Good Samaritan parable was a thief himself?

score:4

Accepted answer

By your own comparison of versions, you've shown it's not a good translation.

You are right at least that the victim has been viewed as a very bad man. Many commentators have viewed the parable as having two meanings. One, a law message that you are to care for the needs of those who are your enemies. Two, it is a Gospel message where Jesus is the Good Samaritan and comes to rescue the man ruined by his sins. Here is a quote from Martin Luther's Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity; Luke 10:23-37

  1. The man who here lies half dead, wounded and stripped of his clothing' is Adam and all mankind. The murderers are the devils who robbed and wounded us, and left us lying prostrate half dead. We still struggle a little for life; but there lies horse and man, we cannot help ourselves to our feet, and if we were left thus lying we would have to die by reason of our great anguish and lack of nourishment; maggots would grow in our wounds, followed by great misery and distress.

  2. The parable stands in bold relief, and pictures us perfectly, what we are and can do with our boasted reason and free will. If the poor wounded man had desired to help himself, it would only have been worse for him, he would only have done harm to himself and irritated his wounds, and only prepared more misery and distress for himself.

Upvote:0

In the story the Jesus wants you to recognize that YOU are the injured man. You must choose who is to save you - the law, the prophets or the Messiah.

Once you recognize that YOU are the injured man you will begin to understand that the Good Sam parable was Jesus's way of answering the Lawyer's (and all of our) questions: Who is my neighbour, AND how do I inherit eternal life? When you understand who Jesus meant by "neighbour," you will receive the answer to the two questions.

More post

Search Posts

Related post