The parable of the Good Samaritan is well known to many of us from childhood. It is customary to think that we know it well. But do we? On the face of it, we sort of know it. But really, it is only possible to spiritually know some parable, some teaching of Christ when His words become a rule of life for us.

Christ uttered the parable of the Good Samaritan as an answer to a lawyer's question about what he should do in order to receive eternal life. All Jews knew the answer to this question, which was already given by God in the Old Testament - in the books of Deuteronomy (6:5) and...