There’s a long tradition in literature of tales for the road. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are one example, as is Cervantes’ Don Quixote — and, in more recent times, Kerouac’s On the Road.

            The Bible is no exception. It has its own road stories. Among them are these chapters from Luke’s gospel in which we now find ourselves. Having turned his face toward Jerusalem,¹ Jesus leads his disciples upon a series of travel adventures. Along the way, their master tells them tales: parables, we call them today. The word “parable” is related to “parabola” — which, if you think back to geometry class, is a figure shaped like half an oval. “Parabola” is also the name military engineers give to the track taken by an artillery shell, lobbed high over hills and trees (and anything else that happens to be in the way) to plummet down with deadly accuracy.

            In much the same way, Jesus’ parables lob their message right over the details of our everyday lives — and, not incidentally, over all the obstacles and objections we may care to raise — to hit home in an unforgettable way.

The Good Samaritan

            Of all Jesus’ parables, among the most famous is the Good Samaritan. Luke supplies us with the setting for the story, which is essential to understanding its meaning.

            The Good Samaritan has often been taken as a sort of morality fable: an “exemplary tale,” as the scholars put it. “Go and do likewise,” Jesus says at the end of it. From that ending, it’s easy to conclude that Jesus’ purpose is to provide a sort of object lesson in how to behave toward others.

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