So how do you determine which way to go, if either way, you're going to be sinning - how do you determine which sin to do? Would you want to have that responsibility? If you leave him for dead, you're sinning; if you touch a person bleeding out, you're sinning - so who made those decisions? The Rabbis.
The Rabbis did something called ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’. In situations like that, they bound their followers to certain behaviours; and they loosed them to certain behaviours. The principle was called [kow-ve-khol-mer]; or in English: “light and heavy”.
So the rabbis, in their yokes, had to determine what was the light sin, and what was the heavy sin - and you wanted to do the light one, not the heavy one.
So this guys rabbi would have had a yoke, and in that rabbi's yoke, he would have determined: is it the lighter thing to touch someone who's bleeding out; or is it the lighter thing to leave somebody half dead? The priest would have done whatever the lighter thing was, so maybe in this priest's life, his rabbi said that the heavier sin is becoming Tumah by touching blood.
Maybe he was just obeying the yoke of his rabbi, by binding and loosing. Maybe that's all that was happening, so the priest steps over him; and the Pharisees going: okay, that's not me.
The next guy comes by, and he's a Levite, and he passes by on the other side of the road too.
Would the Pharisee have identified with the Levite? No. Why? Same reason - they were Sadducees. Levites and Priests came from the same place, they were Sadducees. So the first guy's a Sadducee, and the second guy's a Sadducee, and once again: is it bad Levite, bad Levite, or was he maybe just following the yoke of his rabbi? Maybe the yoke of his rabbi said: I can't touch someone bleeding out, it's best that they leave them for dead.
In a Hebrew parable there's three characters, and if you're not the first, and you're not the second, then you have to be the Third. So this Pharisee would be going: oh, oh, oh, who am I? Who am I? And Jesus said: oh, there's a third character, and he's a Samaritan.
“And a certain Samaritan came upon him, and seeing him, was filled with pity. And coming near, he bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine, and set him on his animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Going on to the next day, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him: take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come back, I'll repay you”.
Then Jesus lowers the boom: which of these do you think was a neighbour?
So what is Jesus saying? Who is asking the question initially? The Pharisee. Does the Pharisee identify with the priest? No. Does the Pharisee identify with the Levite? No. Does the Pharisee have to identify with the Samaritan then? Yes.
So what was the question the Pharisee was asking? Who is my neighbour; in other words, who do I have to love like I love myself; and Jesus says: the Samaritans.
In other words, according to the yoke of Jesus Christ, the people that we need to love like we love as ourselves are: the people we hate the most.
Look at his reaction: “Then which of these three do you think was a neighbour, to those who fell upon the robbers”? In Verse 37, and he said: “the one who had mercy”; and Jesus said: “go and do likewise”.
The guy couldn't even say "the Samaritan". He couldn't even say his name! The Samaritans were untouchables. They were horrible. They were hated amongst the Jews; and Jesus says: if you want to inherit eternal life, you have to learn to love the people that you hate the most, just like you love yourself