The expert in the Law asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” But an inheritance is not earned. Someone else earns it, and it becomes yours through his death.

When the lawyer tries to justify himself by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus gives him far more Law than he expected. The Good Samaritan shows that loving our neighbor means more than avoiding murder or outward wrongdoing. Wherever God places someone who is suffering before us—friend or enemy, foreigner or fellow citizen—we have been given a neighbor to love. God demands genuine compassion that regards our neighbor’s suffering as our own.

By that standard, none of us can justify ourselves.

But Jesus does not merely tell us about the Good Samaritan. Jesus is our Good Samaritan. He finds us helpless and half-dead, has compassion on us, binds ...