Jesus answered with a story:
"A man was traveling on the lonely road between Jerusalem and Jericho. As so often happens there, some thieves jumped out of a hiding place, and robbed him and beat him. He was lying there half dead, when a priest from the Temple in Jerusalem came along. He took one look at the wounded man, and kept on going along the other side of the road. Then somebody else from the Temple, who was supposed to be a very religious sort of person, passed by, and the same thing happened.
"Finally a Samaritan came along. I don't need to tell you how Samaritans and Jews hate each other! But this Samaritan was sorry for the wounded man. He put bandages on his wounds, and took him to an inn. Before he left next morning, the Samaritan went to the innkeeper. He paid the bill for the man who had been robbed. Then he told the innkeeper to take care of the man, and the Samaritan said he would pay for anything more that was needed the next time he came.
"Now, think of those three men who passed along the road. Which of them was a real neighbor to the man who was robbed?"
The lawyer said, "Why, the one who helped him, of course."
"Then," said Jesus, "go and do the same."
What Jesus wanted the lawyer to understand was:
"You really know what a good neighbor should be, because God has been good to you. But you are not much interested in being a neighbor to people who need your help."
But if the lawyer did not see that for himself, there was no use telling him. He would be too proud to understand.
Another day there was a man who came to Jesus and said: