The Good Samaritan

The term “good samaritan” has become a common metaphor for a charitable person who helps the needy or rescues a stranger.  But few people know the history of the first good samaritan.

“The Way of Blood,” is a stretch of the 17 mile road from Jericho to Jerusalem which was infamous because so many people were robbed and killed there. While traveling this notoriously dangerous road a Jewish man is robbed and left for dead. First a Jewish Priest passes by avoiding the man and then a Jewish Levite. Finally, a Samaritan man, a mixed race hated by the Jews, stops and helps the dying man. He carries him to an inn where he pays an inn keeper to nurse the man back to health until he, the Samaritan, can return for the man.

The story of the Good Samaritan illustrates two powerful things. First, he risked his own life and wealth when he stopped to help the Jewish man. Whereas the first two men were only concerned about themselves thinking, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” The Samaritan man concluded, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” Second and for some reason always forgotten, the Good Samaritan would never have made history without having the resources and wealth to save a man’s life. He not only gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, a considerable amount in those days, but promised to reimburse the innkeeper for any additional expenses to nurse the man to health.

The Reality of Wealth

One man scoffed at Peter J. Daniels, one of the wealthiest believers in the world while he was teaching a financial seminar in a church. When asked about his experience in the seminar, the man said that he had not been to any of the meetings and that he was not interested in money. However, less than 24 hours later this same man was back at the church asking for money for his neighbor. The woman, a single mum with several children, was left destitute when her house burned down.

It’s easy to scoff until things hit close to home. In this case the man expected his church to provide for this woman, but had scoffed at the idea that perhaps it was his duty to multiply the resources and finances the Lord had entrusted to him thereby being the agent to help this woman. How different the situation could have been if the man had had the wealth to freely give this woman what she needed, even perhaps another house.

There was a time in my life when as a wilderness guide, I lived out of my Jeep Cherokee Laredo. I never considered myself homeless per se, because I valued the freedom I had as a traveler and an adventurer. Yet, the reality of this story hit me. What if my friend, a single mother with her children ended up homeless? There wasn’t much that I could offer them since I was basically a broke wilderness guide. What would I say, “Come live with me in my Jeep?” But suppose that I had a house, I could invite them to live with me for a period of time. Or, if I had the resources I could give a house away to someone in need. The measurable social impact we have cannot be disconnected from the measurable material wealth which we steward.

Playing It Safe

As believers, we play it safe and think that we are making a great difference in this world. We believe we are being humble and like Paul who said, “I have learned to be content in any circumstance.” (Phil. 4:11). Contentment is powerful, as is being thankful in all things. But we aren’t commanded to be thankful for all things, nor are we commanded to justify our lives played safe without ambition or risk-taking. Many people declare that they have no value for money while they hypocritically work 40 hours a week for money. Many people piously declare that they have enough money or wealth and don’t need any more. Great! Live simply, give more wealth away, and increase your capacity to make a difference in your community. Wealth has power and influence and sadly the majority of Christians feel that they are too spiritual to increase the financial resources entrusted to them.

Church History and Wealth

For many centuries the church has preached and believed that Jesus was a poor man.  If this were true, then in a sense, there is no pressure for you and I to multiply our resources, expand our “territory” or to become people of influence in our community. Yet in every nation of the earth and throughout history, influence and wealth have been inextricably linked. If the Messiah was poor then how could he set a greater expectation for us? But, if he were truly a wealthy man, then this raises the bar for us and clearly sets an expectation that we will increase our wealth and our sphere of influence, just as he commanded us to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.” (Matt. 10:8).

For the most part Christians have ignored matters of money believing in a gospel of poverty as if they were above such worldly things. This is one of the greatest deceptions in Christianity. I have been poor and so have my parents and grandparents. It is not an ennobling experience. Rather poverty brings fear, stress, and depression and thousands of humiliations and difficulties. Only fools romanticize poverty.

Ironically, people believe it is irreverent to speak of wealth believing that the Lord is pleased with our poverty and yet most people spend 2,080 hours a year or 40 hours a week (if not 50 or 60 hours a week) trading their time for money. Almost nothing else consumes the average person more than “paying bills and trying to get by.” Sadly, most of these people are slaves to money and working for money and have no concept of making money their servant and employing it to work for them.

Image credit: Jan Wijnants [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons