“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. The stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went off, leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the victim, he passed by on the other side, So, too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw the victim, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan… went straight to the man and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own ass, took him to an inn in Jericho and took care of him.” Continuing care. Luke 10:30 Waltmanesque(?) care, perhaps?
There seems to be at least 3 prognoses regarding people’s willingness to help a fellow human being in distress. First, anyone in a hurry is less likely to help. The priest and the Levite– we are too hasty to think they’re worthless as******s – were religious functionaries, hurrying along with little prayer books and appointment books, consulting their counterpart of our wristwatches, fearful to be late in their appointments. The Samaritan, on the other hand, wasn’t such a high roller and had time to help. Remember this and you won’t be too hasty with condemning the priest and the Levite.
Second prognosis: anyone who’s busy mulling over ethical or religious questions when their help is called for is not anymore likely to help than someone who’s most like thinking of more worldly matters- or at least of something else. The priest and the Levite (whom one could at first blush easily despise for their seeming hardness of heart) most often have had call to dwell on religious matters, and were in all likelihood doing so at the very moment they came across the mugging victim so unforgettably described by Jesus in that parable, By contrast, the Samaritan was probably thinking about less spiritual matters.
Third prognosis: anyone who’s devout because he hopes it will bring him personal gain lends his help in a contingency less readily than those who regard religion as a constant quest for meaning in their daily lives, without any ulterior motives. The priest and the Levite, on e sees plainly enough belong to the first category: the Samaritan in the second. It is not everyday that you’ll find someone “justifying” the ostensibly detestable attitude of the priest and the Levite. But the truth of the matter, when I look more and more closely at the circumstances, is that people in a rush or a hurry are really less likely to bother with POGI points by commiserating, whether sincerely or melodramatically, with people in distress, than people who’ve got time and to spare on their hands. Jesus must’ve had a tongue-in-cheek moment when he told this parable. We are prone to knee-jerk reactions in such situations, where a little more thought might afford us a more impartial outlook than otherwise. To the street-wise fellow, the mugging victim (scenario) might even be suspected as a mere decoy which if he fell for it might put him in a worse state than his supposed object of assistance! The Boy Scout spirit is not always commendable.
