Good Samaritan Law

In the United States of America, the Good Samaritan Law protects people who stop and help someone in distress, danger, or accident. It protects them from litigation, i.e., being sued by the injured or criminals whom the good Samaritans fight off to protect the innocent. Sadly, in some States, there is an exception to the rule: If medical professionals – nurses, doctors, surgeons, emergency responders, etc. – stop and help someone in distress, danger, or accident, the Good Samaritan Law doesn’t apply. They are liable to litigation and prosecution. As such, some medical professionals pass by accidents and bad situations without helping because the law doesn’t protect them.

The Hebrews were in a similar dilemma – they wanted to help the needy, but helping them on Sabbaths would be considered work, and find them guilty of breaking the Sabbath law. They chose to keep the Sabbath law and ignore the needy.

On a Sabbath, Jesus entered a synagogue to teach. In that synagogue was a man who had a shriveled hand (Luke 6:6), perhaps infantile paralysis or radical palsy. Whatever it was, it would have made him unable to do manual labor and kept him poor.

The scribes of the law and the Pharisees observed carefully if Jesus would heal him on that Sabbath so they might find reasons to accuse him of breaking the Sabbath law of work (Luke 6:7). Jesus knew their discussions and said to the man with the withered hand,

“Arise and stand in the middle.” (Luke 6:8)

The man did just as Jesus asked. Then Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees,

“I ask you: Is it lawful to do good or evil on a Sabbath, i.e., to save a soul or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9)

The Hebrews had an oral law called pikuach nephesh, meaning “saving of one’s soul” or “saving of one’s life” (it was written down after the time of Jesus). Since Moses’s law said, “You shall keep my statutes and law; a person shall live by them.” (Lev 18:5), pikuach nephesh permitted tasks done on Sabbaths to save one life or soul. They were not considered “work” that violated the Sabbath law. Pikuach nephesh included the work of doctors, nurses, midwives, first responders, and the like.

Jesus asked them, “Does healing this man’s withered hands qualify as a pikuach nephesh, saving one’s life/soul?” That man could return to work, gain dignity, and provide for his family. They didn’t respond, but Jesus knew the answer: yes, giving his hand life was doing good and saving one’s soul, pikuach nephesh. He said to the man with the withered hand,

“Stretch out your hand.” (Luke 6:10)

As he did, his hand was fully functional again. He would have left home rejoicing. But the scribes and the Pharisees were “out of their minds” (anoia, from a “without” and nous “mind”) and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus (Luke 6:11).

Often, the letter of the law or an interpretation of the law can blind our eyes from helping people. We must always seek God’s help to see if we should violate an oral tradition to help the needy, just as Jesus did. It might endanger us, as it did Jesus and those medical professionals who ignore the lack of protection the good Samaritan law provides them and help others. But that’s a risk worth taking!