Jesus shared the parable of the Good Samaritan in response to a Lawyer’s attempt to limit his responsibility to love all of his neighbours as himself. Jesus started the parable by explaining that a Jewish man was attacked and robbed as he traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho. The robbers took all of his belongings and they almost took his life too. They nearly beat him to death.

All of my neighbours would probably tell you that I am a good neighbour―except for one.

When I shovel snow from my driveway the morning after a snowfall, I always shovel snow from my neighbour-to-the-right’s driveway too. That neighbour is a single Black mother with a teenage daughter and she’s my mother’s friend. She is easy to help. And whenever I see women shoveling snow from their driveways, I usually rush to the women and convince them to stop, so I would finish it for them. They are also easy to help.

But I won’t do that for my neighbours-to-the-left. I do not speak to them. I do not look at them. And I do not shovel snow from their driveway anymore. Because for whatever reason, they don’t seem to like me and my family. They are not easy to help.

They’ve been rude to us ever since they moved in. But a couple of years ago, they reported my family and I to our local government because we briefly failed to maintain a city by-law. We could have been fined over 300 dollars for that. And that infuriated me. I wondered why they didn’t ring doorbell to talk to me about it first. I would have immediately corrected our mistake. But they didn’t like us. So from that day on, I stopped trying to be a good neighbour to them. I stopped trying to be a Good Samaritan.

The Samaritan in Jesus’ parable wasn’t a Good Samaritan because he helped someone in need. He wasn’t a Good Samaritan because he helped a stranger. No, what made him a Good Samaritan is that he helped someone that wasn’t easy to help. He loved his enemy.

Jesus shared the parable of the Good Samaritan in response to a Lawyer’s attempt to limit his responsibility to love all of his neighbours as himself. Jesus started the parable by explaining that a Jewish man was attacked and robbed as he traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho. The robbers took all of his belongings and they almost took his life too. They nearly beat him to death.

A priest was travelling on the same road that day, but when he saw the man lying on the floor, he ignored him and crossed the other side of the road. Later that day, a Levite traveled on the same road too, and when he saw the man dying on the floor, he also looked the other way. He didn’t help the man either. Then finally, a Samaritan journeyed on that same road. But when he saw the man on the ground, he had compassion on him. He covered his wounds with wine, oil, and cloths. Then he placed the man on a donkey and walked them to an inn, where he gave the innkeeper money and asked him to take care of the dying man until he returned.

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