Gospel Note
Having set forth the twofold "law of love," Luke has Jesus respond to a question about the nature of neighborliness with a parable about a robbery victim and a passerby who, though a stranger and foreigner, helps him. The point of the story is that what brings people into a "neighborly" proximity (and thus into a loving relationship) is the neediness of one. The Samaritan's advance payment for the victim's lodging (thereby insuring that he will not be enslaved for the debt) further teaches that t…