ement Association”. That’s a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.
但是我要告诉你们我的想象力给我的启示。很可能其实是这些人都觉得害怕，你看，耶利哥之路是一条危险的路途。我还记得我和我的妻子第一次到耶路撒冷的情形。我们租了一辆车然后从耶路撒冷开往耶利哥，但我们上路之后，我就跟我妻子说道:“我现在明白为什么耶稣要拿这条路来作比喻了。”这是一条蜿蜒曲折的道路，非常有利于埋伏，你从耶路撒冷出发，这大约是1200英里，也即海平面以上1200英尺。而当15或者20分钟之后，你到达耶利哥时，你却在海平面以下2200英尺。那真是一条危险的路途啊！在耶稣的时代，它就以“血腥之途”而为人所知。而且你知道，可能那个教士和那个利未人检查了地上的那个人，而怀疑那些盗贼是否仍在附近，抑或是他们认为这个人仅仅是在伪装，他只是装作被抢劫了被打伤了，目的是为了抓住他们，引诱他们从而快速而简单地捉住他们。所以那个利未人的第一个问题是：“如果我停下来帮助这个人的话，有什么事会发生在我身上？”但是接着那个好心的撒玛利亚人过来了，他颠倒着这个问题：“如果我不停下来帮助这个人的话，他会怎么样？”
But I’m going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It’s possible that these men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road.I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, “I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable.” It’s a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you’re about 2200 feet below sea level. That’s a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the “Bloody Pass”. And you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked—the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”