God commands us to love other people
25 A teacher of God's Law stood up. He wanted to see how Jesus would answer his question. So he asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
26 Jesus asked him, ‘What does God's Law say? What do you understand when you read it?’
27 The man replied, ‘It says that we must love the Lord our God with all our mind and with all our strength. We must love him with all that we are and in all that we think. It also says that we must love other people as much as we love ourselves.’
28 Jesus said, ‘You have told me the right answer. If you do this, you will have true life with God.’
29 But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’
Jesus' story about a good man from Samaria
30 Jesus answered him with a story: ‘A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho town. On the way, some robbers attacked him. They took away all his clothes and they hit him with sticks. He was almost dead when they left him. 31 It happened that a priest from the temple was going along that road. He saw the man, who was lying there. But he walked past him on the other side of the road. 32 A Levite was also going along the road. He came to the place where the man was lying. He saw him. But he also walked past on the other side of the road.
10:32A Levite was a man from the tribe of Levi, one of the sons of Jacob. Levites worked in the temple to help the priests.
33 But then a man from Samaria was also travelling along the road. He came to the place where the man was lying. When he saw him, he felt very sorry for him. 34 He went across to him. He poured oil and wine on the places where he was bleeding. Then he tied those places with clean cloths. After that, he put the man on his own donkey to carry him. They arrived at a small hotel. He took the man in there and he took care of him.
10:34The man from Samaria poured oil onto the man's body to make the pain less. He poured the wine on the parts of his body that were bleeding to clean them.
35 The next day, the man from Samaria took out two silver coins from his purse. He gave the money to the man who was taking care of the hotel. He said, “Be kind to this man for me. This money may not be enough. When I return, I will pay you for any more that you have spent on him.” ’
36 Then Jesus asked the teacher of God's Law a question. He said, ‘Three men saw the man that robbers had attacked. Which of them showed love to him, like a real friend?’
37 The teacher answered, ‘It was the man who was kind to him.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Yes. So you should go and be kind like that to other people.’
10:37The Jews did not like people from Samaria. Jesus told this story to show them that they must love everyone.
