St Luke tells us that a lawyer asked Jesus for a ruling on the meaning of the word ‘neighbour’ in the commandment ‘love thy neighbour as thyself.’ In reply, Jesus began to tell him a story about a Jewish man who was mugged on the Jericho road, and a priest who passed by rather than get tied up in bureaucracy.

Continuing his story, Jesus told how a Levite did as the priest had done before him, but a Samaritan (and so a sworn enemy of Jews) stopped and helped the mugging victim to an inn to recover. The lawyer listened to the tale and duly answered his own question by declaring that the Samaritan had acted as a neighbour should.

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