One time a lawyer came to Jesus with a question. There’s nothing wrong with questions. God likes good, honest questions. But sometimes when we ask questions, we aren’t really looking for answers. Sometimes we are looking to trick people or put them to the test. That’s what the lawyer was doing with Jesus.

“Teacher,” he said, “what do I have to do to live forever?”

Jesus said, “What does your Bible say?”

The man answered, “It says I should love the Lord my God with all that I’ve got, and I should love my neighbor as myself.”

“That’s a good answer,” Jesus told the lawyer. “If you can actually do that, you’ll live forever.”

Of course, no one can do that perfectly. But Jesus wanted to see what was in the man’s heart.

And you know what? The man’s heart was not very good. He wanted to show that he could keep the commandments, no problem. So he asked Jesus another question.

“Who is my neighbor?” The lawyer thought, “I’m sure I can love my neighbor as myself, since my neighbors are the people I already like.” But Jesus had a different definition of neighbor. So he told a story.

“Once there was a man going on a trip, and he fell among robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead. Thankfully, a priest was going down the same road. Surely, he would help! But the priest walked to the other side of the road, right past the man. Then a Levite came. Good news, right? Nope, he did the same thing. The next man who came was a Samaritan, and God’s people didn’t like Samaritans. But you know what? The Samaritan had compassion on the injured man. The Samaritan took care of the man, brought him to safety, paid for his care, and made sure he was going to get better.”

Then Jesus said, “Which man was a good neighbor?”

The lawyer probably didn’t like that question, because priests and Levites were supposed to be the good guys, and Samaritans were supposed to be the bad guys. But not in this story. The lawyer had to admit it: “The one who showed mercy was the good neighbor.”

“You go, and do likewise,” Jesus said.

Loving our neighbors means helping people when they are hurt. It means we don’t make excuses and look the other way. If we dress like good people and talk like good people and have the reputation of being good people, but we don’t actually do good to people, then it’s not worth much.

We can’t get to heaven by doing nice things. But when we really know God, we will want to love people like he has loved us.