Episode Details

You've heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan a hundred times. But have you ever noticed you're actually the man left for dead in the story — and Jesus is the one who stops to save you? In the final part of this "Best Of" devotional, Pastor Mike Woodruff reveals the connection most people miss entirely: this parable isn't just about how to treat others. It's a picture of the gospel itself.

Mike walks back through everything covered this week — how Jesus challenged the racism of his day, how he redefined what it means to love your neighbor, and how he refused to let the religious expert put limits on love. Then he points out a detail that changes how you'll read this story forever: Jesus told this parable roughly three weeks before his own death. You are the broken, beaten man on the road. Jesus is the one who stops — at great cost to himself — to pay a debt you couldn't pay on your own. He's not just the Good Samaritan. He's the Great Samaritan.

We're bringing this devotional back because this is the moment the whole series has been building to.

📖 Scripture focus: Luke 10:25–37 (full parable review)
🎙️ Speaker: Pastor Mike Woodruff
📅 Part of our "Best Of" Devotional Series — classic devotionals, revisited

In this devotional you'll learn:

• A full recap of what makes this parable so disruptive and unpredictable
• How Jesus limits the "limitations" the lawyer tries to put on love
• Why the timing of this parable — right before Jesus' death — matters so much
• How the Good Samaritan story points forward to the gospel itself
• Why Jesus is not just a good Samaritan, but the Great Samaritan

This is the final part of our series walking verse-by-verse through the Good Samaritan parable. Catch up on the full story below if you missed any part of the journey.

👉 New to our devotionals? We post short, daily devotionals designed to help you start your day grounded in Scripture. This "Best Of" series brings back some of our most impactful past devotionals for anyone who missed them the first time — or wants to revisit them.

Frequently asked:
What is the deeper meaning of the Good Samaritan parable? Beyond teaching us to show mercy to others, the parable is often understood as a picture of the gospel: we are the man left broken on the road, unable to save ourselves, and Jesus is the one who stops — at great personal cost — to rescue and restore us.
Why is Jesus called the "Great Samaritan"? Because like the Samaritan in the story, Jesus stops for those who are broken and pays a price on their behalf — except Jesus' cost is his own death, making him the ultimate fulfillment of the parable's hero.
Where is this story found in the Bible? Luke 10:25–37, the full parable of the Good Samaritan.

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