A mathematical approach to the parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke connects the three stories as if they were one continuous story through the points of two different contacts. Then, what message does Luke want to convey through this?
As you know, the parable of the Good Samaritan is unique to the Gospel of Luke.
Moreover, the parable of the Good Samaritan is a narrative with a complete plot, a story in itself.
For this reason, readers can interpret it as they wish. For this reason it cannot be interpreted as Luke intended.
To prevent this, and to ensure that it is interpreted as Luke intended, the two stories are linked to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
To understand the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan, we need to approach it mathematically, as shown in Figure 4.
The parable of the Good Samaritan, which is connected to the story of the raising of the dead son of the widow of Nain, can be represented by a sequence of the form “1 – 3 – (?)”. Here, the story of the raising of the dead son of the widow of Nain is marked as “1 – 3” because its meaning is so obvious. On the other hand, the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan is unclear and is marked as “(?)”.
Also, the story of the coronation as king at Bethany, which is connected to the parable of the Samaritan, can be represented by a sequence of the form “(?) – 10 – 15”. Similarly, the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan is unclear and is marked as “(?)”.
The subject of the image of the raising of the dead son of the widow of Nain is, of course, Jesus Christ. The subject of the image of the coronation as king at Bethany is, of course, Jesus Christ. So who is the subject of the story of the Good Samaritan, the story that lies between the raising of the dead son of the widow of Nain and the coronation as king at Bethany?
Luke uses mathematical techniques to show that the subject of the image drawn in the parable of the Good Samaritan introduced by Jesus, the narrator, represents Jesus Christ Himself.