14 October 2025

The ‘Parable of the Good Samaritan’ is one of the greatest short stories ever told. It resonates down through the centuries whenever people are tempted to ignore the needs of others.  At the heart of that tale there is the unexpected nature of the Samaritan’s compassionate generosity.

We are inclined to think that the people within our own circle have all the Christian virtues and those who lie outside it do not. Nothing could be further from the truth. Compassion  belongs to those  who share our common humanity.

The Samaritans get around. Jesus once met a Samaritan woman fetching water at Jacob’s well. He asked the woman for a drink. Conversation followed. It resulted in the Samaritan woman running back to the town and forgetting her water-jar  to tell people about Jesus. She became  the first woman to minister the Word of God.

And on Sunday, we  met a third in the lectionary, a leper. At first we were only told that there were ten lepers. They have no names. They are anonymous to us as they still are today.  They were all lumped together without any individuality.

Suffering drew them together or perhaps banished them from more respectful but fearful society. But when they are sent to the priest and healed by Jesus, one stands out with  all his exceptional gratitude.

He runs back to Jesus and thanks him for restoring his health, his place within society and his self-respect. Jesus is surprised. He is the only one who gave thanks and he was a Samaritan, a foreigner with a foreign religion.