Luke 10:25-37
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus in His Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us about helping others...The expert in the law told Jesus correctly our neighbor is the one who has mercy on us when we are in need...Jesus constantly teaches us to love our neighbors and to help our neighbors when they are in need...
Civil Rights Leader and Dr. Martin Luther King wrote many things on the power of forgiveness and love...As we read some about what he had to say on love and forgiveness, we see how tightly the two virtues of love and forgiveness are tied together...Theses two virtues are interrelated in all our lives, and help us better lead an abundant life, when we follow the Teacher who taught about the Great Virtues...
Dr. Martin Luther King said these things about love and forgiveness: We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive...Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only Light can do that...Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that...He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love...There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us...When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies...At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love...That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind...The time is always right to do the right thing...An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity...Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly...I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be...This is the interrelated structure of reality...Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness...The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'...Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'...Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation...The foundation of such a method is love...