Think again about what the Samaritan did in the parable, and then think about what Jesus has done for us. Like the Samaritan, Jesus came to the rescue. The Samaritan just crossed the road to do so; Jesus came all the way from heaven! The man who was beaten was rescued from dying; we were already dead in our sins when Jesus came for us. It cost the Samaritan some money to restore the dying man back to life; it cost Jesus his very life to restore our relationship with God. Jesus suffered for us. Jesus bled for us. Jesus died for us.

We are to follow the example of the good Samaritan, but more importantly we are to follow Jesus, our always good Savior. The right answer to the lawyer’s first question (“What do I have to do to live forever?”) is to follow Jesus—the only person to ever love God and neighbor perfectly.