Editing Parable of the Good Samaritan (section)

===Allegorical reading===
[[File:RossanoGospelsFolio007vGoodSamaritan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|In this folio from the 6th-century [[Rossano Gospels]], the cross-bearing [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]] around the Good Samaritan's head indicates an allegorical interpretation. The first scene includes an angel.]]

[[Origen]] described the allegory as follows:
{{blockquote|The man who was going down is Adam. [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the [[613 Commandments|Law]], the [[Levite]] is the [[Neviim|prophets]], and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord's body, the [inn], which accepts all who wish to enter, is the [[Church body|Church]].{{nbsp}}[...] The manager of the [inn] is the head of the Church, to whom its care has been entrusted. And the fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior's [[Second Coming of Christ|second coming]].|source={{harvnb|Origen|1996|p=136|loc=Homily 34, para 3}} }}

John Welch further states:
{{blockquote|This allegorical reading was taught not only by ancient followers of Jesus, but it was virtually universal throughout early Christianity, being advocated by [[Irenaeus]], [[Clement of Alexandria|Clement]], and [[Origen]], and in the fourth and fifth centuries by [[John Chrysostom|Chrysostom]] in Constantinople, [[Ambrose]] in Milan, and [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] in North Africa. This interpretation is found most completely in two other medieval stained-glass windows, in the French cathedrals at [[Bourges Cathedral|Bourges]] and [[Sens Cathedral|Sens]]."|source={{harvnb|Welch|2007|pp=26–33}} }}

The allegorical interpretation is also traditional in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].{{sfn|Schönborn|2008|p=16}} [[John Newton]] refers to the allegorical interpretation in his hymn "How Kind the Good Samaritan", which begins:

{{poemquote|
How kind the good Samaritan
To him who fell among the thieves!
Thus Jesus pities fallen man,
And heals the wounds the soul receives.<ref name=JohnNewton />
}}

[[Robert W. Funk|Robert Funk]] also suggests that Jesus' Jewish listeners were to identify with the robbed and wounded man. In his view, the help received from a hated Samaritan is like the kingdom of God received as grace from an unexpected source.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|pp= 321-322}}