The Good Samaritan
True neighborly love transcends social boundaries and demonstrates compassion through action.
When asked 'Who is my neighbor?' Jesus tells of a Samaritan—despised by Jews—who alone helps a beaten traveler when religious leaders pass by. The parable subverts expectations: the outsider becomes the moral hero. Genuine love is defined not by who deserves it but by who needs it. The Samaritan binds wounds, provides transport, pays for care, and promises to return. The Samaritan pays two denarii — two days' wages — then signs an open guarantee for more. Luke prices the mercy on purpose. Jesus commands: 'Go and do likewise.'
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? ... Go and do likewise.
Martin Luther King Jr. observed that the Samaritan asked not 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' but 'If I do not stop, what will happen to him?'
Gospel of Luke
Written about in
- What Christianity says about love
A Samaritan, an outsider, stops for a beaten stranger after two religious officials have walked past. The question of who counts as a neighbour is answered by need rather than by desert.