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While the man was on the road, he was beaten by robbers to the point where he could not get up and walk. While he was lying there, a priest passes him by without offering any help, and so did a Levite. Jesus seemed to have been challenging the religiousness of the two religious groups, by implying that they put their righteousness rituals before the well-being of others who they are supposed to love. The specific implications were that the priest and the Levite were unwilling to become unclean by touching a dead body, or blood, therefore they would not want to touch the man who was hurt. The third man who passed the beaten man was a Samaritan. The Samaritan helped the man and paid in full for him to be taken care of, which would have given a powerful message to the Jews because of their view of Samaritans. Jesus used this parable to turn the question from “who is my neighbor”, to “who can I be a neighbor to”. When Jesus asked the lawyer which man was his neighbor, the lawyer was possibly unwilling to say the Samaritan, which could be why he answered the one who had mercy on him. Jesus responded by telling the lawyer to go and do
