By Ali Williams
Each parable has one meaning, and innumerable applications associate professor of religion Byron Merrill said Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006, at Education Week.
?There is one message Jesus meant in the context of the parable,? Merrill said. ?The message of the prodigal?s son is clear: don?t be self-righteous. But there are many applications. And my application may be different from yours.?
The parable of the Good Samaritan was told in response to a question.
?The Savior often turns the table on people who asked him questions by asking them a question? Merrill said.
In answer to the inquiry ?Who is my neighbor?? Christ told of a man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho.
?How far is it from Jerusalem to Jericho? About 10 miles as the crow flies,? Merrill said. ?But Jericho is the lowest city on earth. The difference in elevation is drastic. Likewise, all of us have fallen.?
Merrill continued to tell the story, that the man, left on the side of the road nearly dead, is passed by both a priest and a Levite, both seemingly on their way to the temple. If either were to touch the dead man they would have been deemed unclean and unworthy to enter the temple.
?They represent the law of Moses,? Merrill said. ?The aw of Moses cannot save this man.?
The next passerby is a Samaritan, or a cousin of sorts to the Jews but from the wrong side of the tracks, Merrill said.
?What is a Samaritan? A blankety-blank half breed,? he said. ?Interestingly the Savior was a Samaritan. He was also a half-breed of sorts?half divine and half human.?
The Samaritan then pours water and oil, both symbolic of Christ Merrill said, to clean the wounds of the man and takes him to an inn, offering to pay for whatever it took to make him whole.
?Does this man have any excuse for not being a helper to his neighbor?? Merrill said.
Merrill concluded his remarks with a story stemming from the same question. Found in Mark 10, a rich young man again asks Christ what it takes to obtain eternal life. After what Merrill called an almost rote and terse answer of keeping the commandments, the boy replies he?s done that all his life.
?In my mind?s eye I can see the Savior stopping, pausing and looking at the young man on his knees,? Merrill said. ?Does the Savior know him? Perfectly. He?s looked into his soul.?
Christ proceeds to tell the young man to sell all his belongings and follow Christ as a disciple.
?That?s the hardest thing the Lord ever asks: Just trust me. When we can get far enough to go there, we?ll be on the right path.'