Unlikely Heroes
WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ
Unlikely Heroes
Finding the Hidden Diamond in the Parable of the Good Samaritan
One of the most familiar parables that Jesus taught was that of the Good Samaritan. Perhaps its popularity is due to its practicality, or maybe it has to do with its framing of the story of Jesus himself as the ultimate Good Samaritan. Whatever the case, its notoriety is well deserved as it is often one of the first stories we learn about growing up in Church.
What if there was an aspect of this story that we are missing and that many people have missed over the centuries that this parable has been taught. To be sure, the main character of the story is the Samaritan, who despite being at the fringes of society, was holier in his actions than the holiest men of Israel. But there is another wonderful lesson hidden here, not so much in the Samaritan or the man who was robbed and beaten, but in the owner of the inn where he was brought.
The Good Innkeeper?
Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Luke 10:34-35
On the surface, it does not appear that there is any great significance in this story for the innkeeper. It seems he is just an incidental part of the story, nothing we can really learn from. However, when we start to look a little bit closer, we can see that there is more to this Innkeeper than meets the eye.
Ancient Inns
Contrary to our modern understanding of hospitality, ancient innkeepers were not necessarily known for making you feel right at home. In the same way Samaritans were viewed with suspicion by the Israelites, so too were innkeepers, who were thought to be opportunistic price gougers and would fleece people for their money. Even a patron of an inn in the ancient city of Pompeii had this to say:
May you soon,
swindling innkeeper,
Feel the anger divine,
You who sell people water
And yourself drink pure wine.¹
Suffice it to say, innkeepers did not seem to have had the greatest of reputations among the common people. However, in this case, the Innkeeper is viewed as participating in the care of the man. In fact, he would have had to front any of the expenses to care for him if the couple of coins the Samaritan provided were not enough. This is monumental, as the law of the time noted that people with debts that went unpaid could be enslaved to the debtor.² Yet, every indication from the story denotes that the Innkeeper agreed to care for the man and accept the Samaritan’s promise to reimburse any expense, even if that could not be guaranteed.
Sacrificial Care, Sacrificial Love
When we dig into the story a little bit more, we can start to see that perhaps the Innkeeper has a much more interesting role in this story than we originally thought. Just as the Samaritan was a distrusted outsider who exhibited holiness, so also was the Innkeeper an outsider who exhibited holiness. Thus, the next time you read the parable of the Good Samaritan, remember the significance of the Innkeeper and how we might also lay down our own concerns in caring for others.
¹Bruce Longenecker, "The Story Of The Samaritan And The Innkeeper (Luke 10:30-35): A Study In Character Rehabilitation", Biblical Interpretation 17, no. 4 (2009).
²Ibid