THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE - Chapter 10 - Verse 34

Verse 34. Pouring in oil and wine. These were often used in medicine to heal wounds. Probably they were mingled together, and had a highly sanative quality. How strikingly is his conduct contrasted with the priest and Levite! and how particularly as well as beautifully by this does our Saviour show what we ought to do to those who are in circumstances of need! He does not merely say in general that he showed him kindness, but he told how it was done. He stopped—came where he was —pitied him—bound up his wounds— set him on his own beast—conducted him to a tavern—passed the night with him, and then secured the kind attendances of the landlord, promising him to pay him for his trouble—and all this without desiring or expecting any reward. If this had been by a Jew, it would have been signal kindness; if it had been by a Gentile, it would also have been great kindness; but it was by a Samaritan —a man of a nation most hateful to the Jews, and therefore it most strikingly shows what we are to do to friends and foes when they are in distress.