The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves
A lawyer asked Jesus how to receive eternal life. Jesus asked him what was written in the scriptures. The lawyer answered that the scriptures say to love God and love our neighbor. Jesus said he was right. Then the lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered by telling a parable or story.
In the parable, a man who was a Jew was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Suddenly, some thieves came. They stole his clothes, hurt him badly, and left him there.
Soon, a priest came down the road. A priest was a person who worked in the temple. He saw the man on the road but passed by on the other side.
Next came another man who also worked in the temple, called a Levite. He saw the man who was hurt, but he passed by on the other side of the road too.
Then a Samaritan walked by. He saw that the man on the road was hurt very badly. Samaritans and Jews usually did not get along well. But this Samaritan wanted to help the man anyway.
The Samaritan cared for the man by putting oil and wine on the man’s wounds. He put the man on his donkey.
Then the Samaritan brought the man to an inn, where he could rest and get better. Before the Samaritan left the next day, he gave the innkeeper money and said, “Take care of him.” The Samaritan said he would be back in a few days with more money.
At the end of the story, Jesus asked the lawyer a question. Who was the hurt man’s neighbor? The priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan? The lawyer said it was the one who had shown love to the man—the Samaritan. Jesus told the lawyer to go and be like the Samaritan.