Jesus tells the story of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who falls into the hands of robbers. The text reads, “They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.” Beaten and bruised at the hands of robbers, this bloody mess of a man lies there waiting for someone that might be able to help.
A priest then enters the story. But he walks by.
A Levite enters the story too. But he passes right by the bloodied man on the road.
This is the story that has come to be known as the story of the Good Samaritan. The priest and Levite leave this man on the side of the road for dead. The preachers of this parable will then tell us, “Don’t be like the priest and the Levite, be like the Samaritan.”
But there’s a problem if we follow what Jesus does in the story.