The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 275

him11elf understand the IC'nn "neighbour." the little story, the menning of which the Tho Sami<ritan. lrntcd of the J owe, i<nd most trained-scholar mind of the lnwyer at 01100 probably, in common with the rf!st of his grasped, went right home to the henrt. The nation, hilting them-he, in his tum, was Jewish scribe, in spite of prejudice nnd journeying along the ill-omened "We.y of jealousy, was too noble not to oonfeBB that Bl<XKI; •· he too eee.'l, like the priest, the form the Gnlilman Master's eetimateofa. neighbour of the me.n, wounded perhapB to death, lying was the true one, e.nd the estimate of tho by the way, and, like the Le'l"ite, draws nee.r J erue."\lem sohools the wrong one ; so e.t once to look on the helpless sufferer; but, unlike he replies, " He that showed mercy on him.' prieat and Le'l"ite, stnys by the wounded Even then, in the.t hour of the nohle~t coll me.n, and, regardless of peril, trouble, or ex• fession hie lips had ever made, the lnwyef penae, does his best to help the helpless. trained in those strange e.nd mistaken Vem. 3-l, 85.-And went to him, and bound schools, the outcome of which is the Talmud, up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and could not force himself to ne.me the hated set him on his own beut, and brought him Samaritan name, but pa.re.phra.ses it in this to an inn, and took oare of him. And on the form. The scene closes with the Lord's morrow when he departed, he took out two charge, "Theu imitate that a.et." Go, and penoe, od gave them to the host, and said do thou likewise. The pa.re.hie thus an- unto him. Take oare of him ; od whatsoever swers the question-Who is my neighbour? thou spendest more, when I oome age.in, I Any one, it replies, who needs help, e.nd will repay thee. All theee little tender whom I he.ve power e.nd opportunity to help, details of the Samaritan's pitiful love are no matter what his rank, race, or religion sketched in by a master-hand. There is may be. Neighbourhood is ma.de coexten- first a noble, generous impulse, at once crys- sive with humanity; any human being is my tallized into e. kindly brotherly a.et. Not neighbour who needs aid, or to whom I can aatisfled with merely carrying out the first render a.id. But it answers the other and impulse, the Samaritan put.I himself to in- the still larger e.nd deeper question with convenience, perhaps to peril, e.nd, after which the scene .which called the pa.re.hie dreseing the wounds, ta.kes the wounded one out began. "lllaster," asked the lawyer along with him, provides lodging for him, (ver. 25), "wha.t shall I do to inherit nnd even takes care of the sick and friend- eternal lifo?" Or in other words, "Whe.t is less man's future. The wounded man was the virtue which eaves?'' The Scriptures no rioh and powerful merchant or noble- teach that without holiness no one shall see tllat is clear from the necessity of the little the Lord, the.t is, shall inherit eternal life; provision which the Samaritan made for e.nd in this parable two kinds of holiness a.re him at the inn when he went on his journey; set before us-the one spurious, the other probably just an itinerant Jew pcdl&r. genuine. The spurious holiness is that of the There were many of these e.lways travelling prleet and Levite, two officially holy per- about the East, we know. The piled-up sons ;-spurious holiness is sanctity divorced e.cts of kindness were all clearly done to e. from oharity. In the person of the Samari- poor stm.nger, without hope of recompense or tan the nature of true siwctity is exhibited ; rew&rd. The life of that kindly man we.a -we are taught that the way to plea.ea God, evidently one which finds its high but secret the way to genuine holineee, is the practice guerdcm in the blessedness of its own deeds. of charity. Another and a very different The Master he.d been called by hie bitter exposition of this great e.nd loving parable foes, in their blind rage, a " Se.me.ritan." treats it as a Divine e.llcgory. It commends WBS he in any wuy picturing himself? To itself to the present generation less than an fflll. The Greek word is not the same the plain matter-of-fact exegesis adopted in as the "inn" of eh. ii. 7. It reminds us the foregoing notes. In the allegory, the the.t, besides the open khan or carave.nserai wounded traveller represents man.kind at spoken of at BothleLem, e.nd which was large, stripped by the devil and his angels; crowded with tra, ellers, in Palestine at this he is left by them grievously wounded, yet period was to be found the Greek_ type of not dead outright. Priest and Lovite were mn;where e. host or landlord entertarned the alike powerless to help. "Many passed us guest.a. The khe.n WBS simply a group of by," once wrote e. devout mediieve.l writer, empty building11 kept up for the use of "and there was none to save," Moses and travellers, who provided furniture and food his Law, Aaron e.ud his sacrifices, patriarch, for themselves. Throughout the Levant, prophet, and priest,-these were powerless Greek ouatowa were gradually being intro- Only the true Samaritan (Christ), behold- duced. in~, was moved with compassion and poured Vera. 86, 87.-Whioh now ot the1e three, oil into the wounds. Among the ancients, thlllkest thou, wu neighbour llllto him that Chrysostom e.nd Clement of Alexandria. and fell among the thieve■ 1 And he said, He that Augusti1ie might bo cited e.e good examples u.o-d mero7 on him. 'fh.e rlAep p..•• f nf these allcaorical expositors. Awong Clrt. L 1-42.] TTIE GO8rEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 277