The Samaritan is a great example of practical compassion though. He bandages the wounds and takes the victim to a place where he can recover. Then, having done all he can, he returns to his own business. Doesn’t miss a beat.
Martin Luther King saw the parable as a political statement about how society should be organized. “On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring”.
