The Good Samaritan

This familiar parable is perhaps one of the most misunderstood parables in all of Scripture. It is often divorced from its context, turning it into a teaching on Kingdom ethics, or living more like Jesus. However, the meaning of the parable is determined by the context. Jesus is confronting a self-righteous lawyer and uses the parable to expose the lawyer's failure before the law. The purpose of the passage, then, is to drive the sinner toward mercy found only in the cross of Christ.