The Heart of the Samaritan: Unveiling One of the Most Beloved and Misunderstood Stories in the New Testament

By Charles Tremblay

The good Samaritan story is known and celebrated worldwide by Christians and non-Christians alike. But what if our common understanding of this beloved parable has largely missed the point?

In a world hungry for everyday heroes, the feel-good label "good Samaritan" is assigned to individuals who rescue or help people they don't know. Charles Tremblay explains that instead of merely promoting kindness to strangers, this famous story actually teaches mercy for our enemies. This is the more radical moral principle at the heart of Christianity, a principle sadly in short supply in our increasingly vindictive culture.

The Heart of the Samaritan also examines the deep Christian typology underlying the short passage from Luke's gospel. Early church fathers taught this story from the framework of analogy, and this interpretation persisted for more than a thousand years before seeming to fall out of fashion by the mid-nineteenth century.

What does Luke's good Samaritan reveal about mankind, Christ, the church, and more? The Heart of the Samaritan is a fresh look at a story you thought you already knew!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886852097

Book preview

cover.jpg

The Heart of the Samaritan

Unveiling One of the Most Beloved and Misunderstood Stories in the New Testament

Charles Tremblay

ISBN 979-8-88685-208-0 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-209-7 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Charles Tremblay

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

—Matthew 13:13

Sometimes God's truths are hiding in plain sight. Even though they are right in front of us, we have the maddening tendency to see without really seeing. It was true of the Israelites when Moses came down the mountain with his arms full of divine revelation. His face was reflecting the glory of God's presence, yet the people could only behold him through a veil because of their sin. The same veil separated them from true vision into the word of God.

But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament…

—2 Corinthians 3:14

We haven't changed very much through the intervening millennia. In fact, 2 Thessalonians teaches that at the very end of this age, God will send a strong delusion to those who have refused to love truth, and they will believe a lie. Many of us can't see because we don't want to see.

Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

—2 Corinthians 3:16

The good news, the gospel, is that the veil is taken away in Christ. As Christians, the Holy Spirit abides in us. Jesus walks with us. He calls us friends. Friendship with the Lord positions us for unique insight into the mind and purposes of the Father.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

—John 15:15

When asked why He spoke in parables, Jesus freely explained:

Because it has been given to you [believers] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [unbelievers] it has not been given… Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

—Matthew 13:11, 13

Jesus used parables to share spiritual truths about the kingdom with His friends and followers while masking those truths from His enemies and from the hard-hearted. He was hiding truth in plain sight. Parables are word pictures painted to illustrate and present ideas that might be more difficult or even impossible to express in a more direct, declarative style. They break through some of the limitations of language.

Parables are instructive analogies, kernels of truth wrapped up in relatable stories. Have you ever tricked a reluctant pet into taking medicine by wrapping it in cheese? That's what Jesus is doing. Truth is medicine. Parables are cheese.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most well-known in all the world, and one of the most beloved. It is so universally admired that even secular sources frequently refer to it when describing a person who helps a stranger in need. You will often see news stories that speak of a Good Samaritan that performs a kind deed. Problem is, that's not what the parable is about.

In Breaking the Code of the Feasts, Perry Stone explains that there are four basic categories or levels of interpretation used by Hebrews to study scripture. Peshat deals with the simple or literal meaning. Remez is the meaning hinted at in the scripture. Derash is the homiletic meaning of the text. And Sod (pronounced sode) searches for the secret or concealed meaning.

Sod is to be understood as being ‘concealed' in the same way a foundation is concealed from view, and still we know it is there. In fact, it is what holds up and stabilizes everything that is built upon it.

It is incorrect to say that traditional teaching about the Good Samaritan is flat-out wrong. It's just extremely incomplete. On the derash homiletic level, we have routinely missed the point. The parable is not primarily a story about kindness to a stranger in need. It is a story about mercy for an enemy. Initially, that may seem like splitting hairs, but it is not. It is vitally important to the church at this time in history and to a proper understanding of the radical nature of Christianity as a world religion.

Teaching on the sod, concealed interpretation of the Good Samaritan story is virtually nonexistent today. There is an extravagant wealth of hidden truth packed into a small handful of verses. The fall of man, the incarnation of Christ, the restoration and future hope of man, the seal of the Spirit…these are only a few of the powerhouse, fundamental Christian doctrines hiding in plain sight in a humble little story recorded only by Luke.

When I first began viewing this parable from this angle, I was excited but also concerned. Excited because I felt like I had a unique and valuable perspective to share, concerned because I found no other studies done from this perspective. Maybe nobody was teaching it because it was wrong. Perhaps in my zeal, I was reading things into the parable that simply were not there.

I always want to be careful when interpreting and teaching the Word of God because I take the responsibility seriously. The epistle from James warns that not many should become teachers, for they are held to a stricter judgment. So I was exploring these ideas with caution and prayer.

Then I ran across an article whose basic outline was similar to the skeleton of my own work—an article published in 1849 in The Scottish Magazine and Churchman's Review. Apparently, this line of interpretation is not new. It seems to have once been pretty widely accepted and understood. In fact, allegorical interpretation of the Good Samaritan story can be traced back as far as Origen, an influential church leader from the third century, who in turn credits his interpretation as having been passed down from earlier generations of Christian teaching.

This deeper, concealed meaning has been mostly lost to modern Christianity. Among the rare few who acknowledge it at all today, it is largely dismissed as an overreach or an error. I disagree with those conclusions.

The veil is ever being taken away in Christ, our vision restored, our understanding refreshed. The interpretation set forth in this book came to me during much prayer and Bible reading, and I was completely unaware of the history behind it. Yet, with this decidedly non-scholarly approach, I found myself in theological harmony with second-century church fathers like Iraneus and Clement of Alexandria.

With an open mind, a prayerful spirit, and a few fresh insights, I believe we will find more than meets the eye below the surface of the famous Samaritan story. That is the hope and purpose of this book. By prayerfully focusing together on the sod and the derash (the concealed and the homiletic interpretations) of this amazing parable, I believe we will rediscover the heart of the Good Samaritan…and not a moment too soon. This world at this time is in short supply of mercy for its enemies and in desperate need of mercy and truth from heaven. Thankfully, we have a gracious God whose Word is truth and whose mercies are new each day.

Part 1

Sod

The Fall and the Condition of Man

The Story

Fig Leaves

The Walking Dead

Fig Leaves

The Savior

The Samaritan

To See as He Sees

Oil and Wine

A Safe Place to Mend

The Future Hope

The Guarantee

Part 2

Derash

By Our Love, by Our Love

Scheming Swindlers

Mercy over Judgment

History Repeating

Kingdom Diplomacy

The Ambassadors

Objection, Your Honor!

The Most Unpopular Christian Doctrine of All Time

State of the Union

Seven Steps to a Better You

About the Author

Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

—Matthew 13:13

Sometimes God's truths are hiding in plain sight. Even though they are right in front of us, we have the maddening tendency to see without really seeing. It was true of the Israelites when Moses came down the mountain with his arms full of divine revelation. His face was reflecting the glory of God's presence, yet the people could only behold him through a veil because of their sin. The same veil separated them from true vision into the word of God.

But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament…

—2 Corinthians 3:14

We haven't changed very much through the intervening millennia. In fact, 2 Thessalonians teaches that at the very end of this age, God will send a strong delusion to those who have refused to love truth, and they will believe a lie. Many of us can't see because we don't want to see.

Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

—2 Corinthians 3:16

The good news, the gospel, is that the veil is taken away in Christ. As Christians, the Holy Spirit abides in us. Jesus walks with us. He calls us friends. Friendship with the Lord positions us for unique insight into the mind and purposes of the Father.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

—John 15:15

When asked why He spoke in parables, Jesus freely explained:

Because it has been given to you [believers] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [unbelievers] it has not been given… Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

—Matthew 13:11, 13

Jesus used parables to share spiritual truths about the kingdom with His friends and followers while masking those truths from His enemies and from the hard-hearted. He was hiding truth in plain sight. Parables are word pictures painted to illustrate and present ideas that might be more difficult or even impossible to express in a more direct, declarative style. They break through some of the limitations of language.

Parables are instructive analogies, kernels of truth wrapped up in relatable stories. Have you ever tricked a reluctant pet into taking medicine by wrapping it in cheese? That's what Jesus is doing. Truth is medicine. Parables are cheese.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most well-known in all the world, and one of the most beloved. It is so universally admired that even secular sources frequently refer to it when describing a person who helps a stranger in need. You will often see news stories that speak of a Good Samaritan that performs a kind deed. Problem is, that's not what the parable is about.

In Breaking the Code of the Feasts, Perry Stone explains that there are four basic categories or levels of interpretation used by Hebrews to study scripture. Peshat deals with the simple or literal meaning. Remez is the meaning hinted at in the scripture. Derash is the homiletic meaning of the text. And Sod (pronounced sode) searches for the secret or concealed meaning.

Sod is to be understood as being ‘concealed' in the same way a foundation is concealed from view, and still we know it is there. In fact, it is what holds up and stabilizes everything that is built upon it.

It is incorrect to say that traditional teaching about the Good Samaritan is flat-out wrong. It's just extremely incomplete. On the derash homiletic level, we have routinely missed the point. The parable is not primarily a story about