The classification of a “good” one casts dispersion on all the rest. Very early on, “others” were cast as baddies. It seems like a trend.
Quoting Wikipedia:
Jesus’ target audience, the Jews, hated Samaritans to such a degree that they destroyed the Samaritans’ temple on Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans, reciprocally, hated the Jews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Good_Samaritan
Quoting Wikipedia [emphasis mine]:
The Samaritans (/səˈmærɪtənz/; Samaritan Hebrew: ࠔࠠࠌࠝࠓࠩࠉࠌ Šā̊merīm; Hebrew: שומרונים Šōmrōnīm; Arabic: السامريون as-Sāmiriyyūn), often preferring to be called Israelite Samaritans, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of ancient Israel and Judah that comprises the northern half of what is today referred to as the West Bank. They are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion that developed alongside Judaism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans
I dunno. Maybe someone will correct my interpretation. This has been at the edge of my mind for a little while and I’m curious if others agree.
Right. It’s basically Jesus (or whoever the story teller is from the other perspective) saying, “I know you all are racist. Stop it. Anyone can be a good person. Do better.”
A guess a slightly less charitable interpretation could be: ‘even this evil person can do good once in a while, why aren’t you?’ but aligning with a lot of the other parables I feel like it’s more than likely to be the first one.