Scholar: Teacher, what must I do to experience the eternal life?

Jesus (answering with a question): ²⁶ What is written in the Hebrew Scriptures? How do you interpret their answer to your question?

Scholar: ²⁷ You shall love—“love the Eternal One your God with everything you have: all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind”^[a]—and “love your neighbor as yourself.”^[b]

Jesus: ²⁸ Perfect. Your answer is correct. Follow these commands and you will live.

Scholar: Ah, but who is my neighbor?

Jesus: ³⁰ This fellow was traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho when some robbers mugged him. They took his clothes, beat him to a pulp, and left him naked and bleeding and in critical condition. ³¹ By chance, a priest was going down that same road, and when he saw the wounded man, he crossed over to the other side and passed by. ³² Then a Levite who was on his way to assist in the temple also came and saw the victim lying there, and he too kept his distance. ³³ Then a despised Samaritan journeyed by. When he saw the fellow, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ The Samaritan went over to him, stopped the bleeding, applied some first aid, and put the poor fellow on his donkey. He brought the man to an inn and cared for him through the night.

³⁵ The next day, the Samaritan took out some money—two days’ wages^[c] to be exact—and paid the innkeeper, saying, “Please take care of this fellow, and if this isn’t enough, I’ll repay you next time I pass through.”

³⁶ Which of these three proved himself a neighbor to the man who had been mugged by the robbers?

Scholar: ³⁷ The one who showed mercy to him.

Jesus: Well then, go and behave like that Samaritan.