Alone on the Road: What the Good Samaritan Teaches Us About Loneliness

In this interview excerpt from episode #4190, Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime, talks with Rev. Adam Mixon, senior pastor of Zion Spring Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Together, they explored the deeper layers of the Good Samaritan parable—focusing not just on compassion, but on the isolation that often precedes it.

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REV. DR. KATIE GIVENS KIME
It seems to me sometimes that one could argue that it's easier to hide and to insulate more than it ever has been. And I don't know, I'm just thinking about loneliness, too, for some reason, which isn't in the passage, but it's real, it's dangerous.

REV. ADAM MIXON
You know what? Don't discount that. I think it's there. The man is left beaten, stripped, half dead, he's alone. He's alone. And each of those who journeyed on that up the road, each of them, in some respect or another, were traveling alone. Yeah, the priest didn't have a cadre with him, nor did the Levite. They were walking up the same road alone.

Yep, impacted differently, I guess, by circumstance, but there's something to that aloneness. I think it's Bell Hooks who says none of us heal in isolation. We are not well when we're isolated.

And that goes for the priest, the Levite, it goes for the man beaten, it goes for the Samaritan. We don't do well when again we're not connecting, when we don't see one another, yeah.

✨ Reflection

Rev. Mixon's insight lands with the quiet force of conviction: “We are not well when we’re isolated.” In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the man isn’t just wounded—he’s alone. So are the passersby. So, too, are many of us.

For preachers and teachers, this moment opens a powerful lens: Jesus’ story isn't just about kindness. It’s about presence. About proximity. About shared roads and the courage to be seen.

• Where in your ministry are you overlooking someone who is traveling alone?
• What does it mean to truly see—and to be seen—in a world so easily distracted?

Explore Rev. Adam Mixon’s full sermon from episode 4190.