Scripture · Luke 11:8
Luke 10:32-33
The Good Samaritan
So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
The Samaritan kneels and supports the wounded man against his chest while a smaller robed figure walks away down the road.
About the artwork
The rescue fills most of the engraved field. The wounded man’s nearly naked body rests against the traveler, with an animal and travel gear close enough to continue the journey. The receding passerby makes neglect remain visible in the same landscape as care.
The Samaritan has come down from his mount and uses his own body to support the injured stranger. The animal waits close by, ready to become transport for someone else. Millais brings treatment and the means of carrying it forward into the same frame. In a story that begins with asking who counts as a neighbor, belonging is being worked out through the use of hands, time and possessions.
Featured in: John Everett Millais’s Bible Paintings: The Holy Family That Made Dickens Furious
What does Luke 10:32-33 mean?
Luke 10:32–33 places the Levite who passes by directly before the Samaritan who feels compassion. The contrast becomes action in verse 34: approach, treatment, transport, and care at an inn. The story answers a question about the identity of a neighbor by showing someone becoming one.
The small figure walking away preserves the first half of that contrast, while the foreground demonstrates its alternative. Jesus ends by asking which traveler acted as a neighbor and instructing the questioner to do likewise. The engraving therefore holds a choice within a single road.
Luke 10:32–33 explains the contrast between the departing traveler and the figure who kneels to help.
Sources
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — The Good Samaritan, 21.68.4(11). Dalziel wood-engraved proof after Millais, dated 1864; design first published in Good Words in 1863. Scripture identifies the two passersby as priest and Levite.
John Everett Millais’s Bible Paintings: The Holy Family That Made Dickens Furious. Artwork reading adapted from this guide.
Luke 10 — Berean Standard Bible. Context for Luke 10:32-33.
Also from Luke:The Angel Appearing to ZachariasAnnunciation
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