The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) may be Jesus’ best known parable. It shows a person helping — being a neighbour to — someone in need.
But not just any person.
A Samaritan.
At that time and place the Samaritans would have been an outgroup. They would have been considered “Other”, not “Us”. The parable challenged its audience to consider the low-status Samaritan not by the status they had, but the good that they did. It was the Samaritan, not the Priest or the Levite, who was the neighbour to the one in need.
Samaritans are not an outgroup today. Today, we have new outgroups. But the truth the parable points to, remains the same.
