Day Fifty-Nine: The Good Samaritan

    “What is written in the law?” He asked him. “How do you read it?”

  He answered:

   Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

    “You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.”

  But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

  Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

    “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

  “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.

   Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”