Return to the Commandment:

A proposal for the interpretation of the “Parable of the Good Samaritan” (Lk 10,30-35)

Abstract

This paper is the result of an investigation aimed at analyzing comments that focus on the biblical passage known as the “Parable of the Good Samaritan” (Lk 10:30-35). We observed that the different interpretations have characteristics that guide a specific reading of this evangelical text, and can be grouped into two sets: the “direct answer” and the “inverted question”. However, we argue that the sets do not run the entire scope covered by the Lucan narrative. An approach that contemplates it more fully is needed, whose features are grouped under the name of “return to the commandment”. Proceeding in this way, the pericope is taken in its power to reframe the statement of Lk 10,27 (“and your neighbour as yourself”), constituting a genuine device to understand the meaning of the biblical command and, consequently, of the love it manages.