The Good Samaritan

An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus with a question: 'Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus turned the question back to him, asking what was written in the Law. The man correctly quoted the greatest commandments: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,' and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Jesus affirmed his answer: 'Do this and you will live.'

But the man wanted to justify himself and narrow the scope of his obligation, so he asked, 'And who is my neighbor?' Instead of giving a direct answer, Jesus told a story that would forever change how we understand loving our neighbor. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and left him half dead beside the road.

A priest happened to be going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he passed by on the other side. Perhaps he feared ritual defilement from touching blood or a dead body, or maybe he worried the robbers were still nearby. Whatever his reasoning, this religious leader who was supposed to represent God's compassion walked past a dying man. Soon after, a Levite—another temple worker—came to the place, looked at the man, and also passed by on the other side.

Then a Samaritan came along. Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies, divided by centuries of ethnic, religious, and cultural hatred. Yet when this Samaritan saw the wounded man, he took pity on him. He went to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds, and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him through the night.

The next day, the Samaritan had to continue his journey, but he didn't abandon the injured man. He gave the innkeeper two denarii—roughly two days' wages—and said, 'Look after him, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' This despised outsider demonstrated extraordinary compassion, inconveniencing himself and spending his own money to save a stranger who would have considered him an enemy.

Jesus turned to the expert in the law and asked, 'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' The expert couldn't even bring himself to say 'the Samaritan,' answering instead, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.' The question wasn't 'Who qualifies as my neighbor that I must love?' but rather 'Am I being a neighbor to those in need around me?'