In today’s Gospel, a scholar of the law asks Jesus the essential question: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus points him to the heart of God’s command: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart… and love your neighbor as yourself.” But the man, looking for limits or loopholes, presses further: “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds not with a strict definition, but with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. What makes the Samaritan good is not his title or knowledge of the law, but his compassion in action. He stops, sees the suffering, binds wounds, and gives of himself—while the priest and the Levite, respected religious figures, pass by, perhaps out of fear, ritual concerns, or inconvenience.

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