The Ultimate Good Samaritan

From Eternity to Present and Future

Mina Roller

Mina Roller, The Ultimate Good Samaritan: From Eternity to Present and Future, 2022, Watercolor on paper, 11 x 14 inches.

Mina Roller’s Good Samaritan echos the well-known biblical narrative of a Samaritan who rescues a robbed and beaten traveler. (Luke 10:25-37) Like many of the stories that Jesus told, the Good Samaritan teaches Jesus’ audiences about the nature of God and provides an avenue to a deeper understanding of love. Jesus, a perfect marriage of the eternal and the temporal, uses words and images to help us understand the heart of the Gospel.

Roller’s depiction emphasizes one interpretation of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan, a symbol of Jesus, bears the full weight and burden of the injured man, symbolic of humanity, rescuing him from death on the side of the road. Through the single-handed efforts of the Samaritan, the traveler, and those that accept the help of Christ, are brought from a state of despair to one of restoration and healing. The Samaritan pays all of the expenses to the innkeeper so that the injured man will not risk being enslaved. Other symbols in Roller’s painting embellish the Good Samaritan story: the tree symbolizes the impending crucifixion, and the hanging robe also alludes to Christ’s sacrifice. (Isaiah 61:10)

Additional Information & Resources

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Mina Roller

Mina Roller is an Illinois-based watercolor artist. She enjoys painting portraits and genre scenes as well as reading in her spare time.

Christa Issler