🎧 Sermon Podcast: Christ the True Samaritan – Allegory of Luke 10:34
📅 Preached by Rev. Steven Macias at Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, Los Altos on July 13th, 2025
In this sermon, Rev. Steve Macias explores the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:34 & following) as an allegory of Christ’s redemptive mission. Drawing from the Church Fathers—including St. Gregory. St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine—this message invites us to see Christ as the allegorical Samaritan who binds our wounds, carries our burdens, and brings us into His Church for healing.
The Wounded Man – Humanity in Adam
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers.” (Luke 10:30)
The Fathers saw this man as Adam—and in Adam, every one of us.
Jerusalem symbolizes peace and fellowship with God—a picture of Eden. Jericho, as St. Augustine teaches, comes from the Hebrew Yeriḥo, meaning “moon”—a symbol of change, decay, and mortality. The moon waxes and wanes, and so too does life under sin.
The descent is both geographic and spiritual: from divine communion into the instability of a fallen world.
The Robbers – Satan and Sin
The robbers represent the devil and his forces. As Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
Satan stripped Adam of righteousness, wounded his soul, and left him half-dead—alive in body, but dead in spirit. This is the human condition without grace.
The Priest and Levite – The Limits of the Old Covenant
The priest and the Levite saw him and passed by. They represent the Old Covenant—the Law, which could diagnose sin, but not heal it.
As Paul writes: “What the law could not do, weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His Son.” (Romans 8:3)
The Samaritan – Christ Our Savior
The Samaritan, despised by the Jews, comes near. He alone has compassion. This is Christ—rejected, yet merciful.
He binds the man’s wounds, pouring on wine and oil—symbols of the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Then He sets the man on His own beast—a picture of Christ bearing our humanity. As the Fathers taught, He carried us by taking our nature upon Himself.
The Inn – The Church
“He brought him to an inn and took care of him.” The inn is the Church, where healing begins and grace is administered.
The innkeeper is like St. Peter and the pastors of the Church, entrusted with spiritual care. Through Word and Sacrament, the wounded are restored.
The Return – The Second Coming
Christ promises to return: “Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” This is our hope—Christ has not abandoned His Church, and He will return to restore all things.
Conclusion – Our Place in the Story
This parable is not just a moral tale—it is the Gospel in allegory.
- We are the wounded man.
- Jesus is the Good Samaritan.
- The Church is the inn.
- The pastors are the innkeepers.
Have you been rescued? Are you still bleeding by the roadside? Or have you been carried in, bandaged by mercy, and nourished by grace?