Where is the Good Samaritan found in the Bible?

Only in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. Jesus tells it in answer to a lawyer’s question about who his neighbor is. The passage is short enough to read in about two minutes, and the Sources section below links to the full text so you can read it for yourself.

Why did Jesus make the hero a Samaritan?

Jews and Samaritans had a history of hostility, and John 4:9 notes that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Casting a Samaritan as the one who helps, and a priest and a Levite as the ones who walk by, reversed what listeners expected and made the point hard to dodge.

What does “who is my neighbor” mean in Luke 10?

The lawyer wanted to know where his duty to love ended. Jesus does not draw a boundary. He describes a person who acted with mercy and asks which of the three was a neighbor. The answer is the one who showed mercy, so a neighbor is defined by what someone does.

How does Making Heaven Crowded apply the Good Samaritan?

The ministry’s teams walk downtown Tampa and Gainesville with food and bottled water, stop for people the rest of the city walks past, and build relationships. They treat each person as made in the image of God. They also share the Gospel with people who are willing to hear it, and stop when someone is not.

How can I put it into practice?

Start small and local: stop, speak to someone, offer what you have. You can read how to help in Tampa or Gainesville, join an outreach through the volunteer forms, or ask the team a question by email or phone. The first step is the one the Samaritan took, which was to stop.

A Making Heaven Crowded volunteer kneeling to talk with someone on the street in Tampa

Luke 10:25–37

The Good Samaritan: who is my neighbor?

Jesus’s best-known story, read in order, and what it asks of anyone who meets a person in need in Tampa or Gainesville.

The short answer

A neighbor is the one who shows mercy

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, in Luke 10:25–37, a lawyer asks Jesus who his neighbor is. Jesus answers with a story about a Samaritan who stops to care for a beaten stranger, then turns the question around: which of the three travelers acted as a neighbor? The answer is the one who showed mercy, and Jesus ends with “Go, and do thou likewise.”

The story is short, and it is easy to miss how pointed it is. The lawyer asked where the line of obligation falls. Jesus described someone who never asked.

The story in order

Seven moments in Luke 10:25–37

A lawyer asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him what the law says.
The lawyer answers: love God with everything, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says he has answered rightly.
Wanting to justify himself, the lawyer asks, “And who is my neighbour?”
Jesus tells of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who is attacked by robbers and left half dead.
A priest and then a Levite each see the man and pass by on the other side.
A Samaritan comes upon him, is moved with compassion, bandages his wounds, and takes him to an inn.
The next day the Samaritan pays the innkeeper and promises to cover any further cost. Jesus asks which of the three was a neighbor, and the lawyer replies, “He that shewed mercy on him.”

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.”
Luke 10:33 (KJV)

Why a Samaritan

The detail that made the story land

Jesus’s listeners would have felt the choice of hero. Elsewhere the Gospel of John notes that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9). By making the Samaritan the one who helps, and a priest and a Levite the ones who walk by, Jesus takes the roles his audience expected and reverses them.

The reversal changes the question. The lawyer wanted to know who qualified as a neighbor, which puts the stranger on trial. Jesus asks which of the three acted as one, which puts the helper on trial. Being a neighbor is something a person does, not a category the other person falls into.

Notice also what the mercy cost. The Samaritan gave his time, his supplies, his transport, and his money, and he committed to more. The parable describes compassion that shows up in action, not in feeling alone.

The limit

What the parable does not say

The lawyer began by asking how to inherit eternal life, so the story can be misread as a way to earn it. Making Heaven Crowded does not teach that serving people earns anyone’s salvation. The New Testament grounds salvation in faith, as Ephesians 2:8–9 says, and the parable shows what love for a neighbor looks like in a life, not how a person is saved. The page on what the Gospel is lays out the difference.

It also does not say that mercy replaces the message. The Samaritan does not preach in the story, and one parable is not a full account of what a Christian is called to do. The ministry keeps both together: serving people, and sharing the Gospel with those willing to hear it.

On the street

How Making Heaven Crowded reads it

Two of the ministry’s stated commitments sit close to this story: to serve individuals in practical ways, and to build genuine relationships with the people it encounters. It says every person is created in the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, and love.

In practice that looks like teams walking downtown Tampa and downtown Gainesville with food and bottled water, stopping for people the rest of the city walks past, a phrase the ministry itself uses. Read about the outreach in Tampa and Gainesville, or take up the question many people ask on a sidewalk in should you give money to someone who is homeless. The wider set of verses is collected in what the Bible says about serving the poor.

Anyone who wants to practice the same habit can join the Tampa or Gainesville team.

Questions

The Good Samaritan, answered plainly

Where is the Good Samaritan found in the Bible?: Only in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. Jesus tells it in answer to a lawyer’s question about who his neighbor is. The passage is short enough to read in about two minutes, and the Sources section below links to the full text so you can read it for yourself.
Why did Jesus make the hero a Samaritan?: Jews and Samaritans had a history of hostility, and John 4:9 notes that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Casting a Samaritan as the one who helps, and a priest and a Levite as the ones who walk by, reversed what listeners expected and made the point hard to dodge.
What does “who is my neighbor” mean in Luke 10?: The lawyer wanted to know where his duty to love ended. Jesus does not draw a boundary. He describes a person who acted with mercy and asks which of the three was a neighbor. The answer is the one who showed mercy, so a neighbor is defined by what someone does.
Does the parable teach that good deeds earn salvation?: No. The lawyer asked about eternal life, but the story illustrates how love of neighbor looks in practice. Making Heaven Crowded does not teach that serving people earns salvation, and it points to Ephesians 2:8-9, which describes salvation as a gift received by faith, not as a result of works.
How does Making Heaven Crowded apply the Good Samaritan?: The ministry’s teams walk downtown Tampa and Gainesville with food and bottled water, stop for people the rest of the city walks past, and build relationships. They treat each person as made in the image of God. They also share the Gospel with people who are willing to hear it, and stop when someone is not.
How can I put it into practice?: Start small and local: stop, speak to someone, offer what you have. You can read how to help in Tampa or Gainesville, join an outreach through the volunteer forms, or ask the team a question by email or phone. The first step is the one the Samaritan took, which was to stop.

Sources

Read the passages on Bible Gateway (King James Version): Luke 10:25-37, John 4:9, Ephesians 2:8-9.

Where to go next

Ask a question, or come and see

You are welcome to join an outreach, send a prayer request, or write to the team.

Become a Tampa volunteer All ways to get involved

Questions? Email Makingheavencrowdedtampa@gmail.com or call (941) 718-2867.