“Your neighbour!” the disciple Matthew, who was sitting by him at table, informed him.

“That is all right, my friend, if only I knew who was my neighbour!  I run up against all sorts of people in the day, and if one of them trips me up, he is my neighbour for the time being.  At this moment I have two neighbours, you and Zachariah.  Which of the two am I to love as myself?  It is only stated that you shall love one.  And if it’s you or Zachariah, why should I love either of you more than the Master who sits at the other end of the table and is not my neighbour!”

“Man! that is an impertinent speech,” said the disciple Bartholomew reprovingly.

“Well then, put me right!” retorted the other.

The disciple began, and tried to explain who the neighbour was, but he did not get very far, his thoughts were confused.  Meanwhile the question had reached the Master.  Who is, in the correct sense of the term, one’s neighbour?

Jesus answered, by telling a story:  “There was once a man who went from Jerusalem to Jericho.  It was a lonely road, and he was attacked by highwaymen, who plundered him, beat him, and left him for dead.  After a while a high priest came by that way, saw him lying there, and noticing that he was a stranger, passed quickly on.  A little later an assistant priest came by, saw him lying there, and thought:  He’s either severely wounded or dead, but I’m not going to put myself out for a stranger; and he passed on.  At last there came one of the despised Samaritans.  He saw the helpless creature, stopped, and had pity on him.  He revived him with wine, put healing salve on his wounds, lifted him up, and carried him to the nearest inn.  He gave the host money to take care of the sufferer until he recovered.  Now, what do you say?  The priests regarded him as a stranger, but the Samaritan saw in him his neighbour.”

Then they explained it to themselves:  Your neighbour is one whom you can help and who is waiting for your help.

The disciple Thomas now joined in the conversation, and doubted if you could expect a great prince to dismount from his horse and lift a poor beggar out of the gutter.

Jesus asked:  “If you rode by as a great prince and found Me lying wretchedly in the gutter, would you leave me lying there?”

“Master!” shouted Thomas in horror.

“Do you see, Thomas?  What you would do to the poorest, you would do to Me.”

One of the others asked:  “Are we only to be kind to the poor, and not to the rich and noble?”

And Jesus said:  “If you are a beggar in the street, and a prince comes riding past, there’s nothing you can do for him.  But if his horse stumbles and he falls, then catch him so that his head may not strike against a stone.  At that moment he becomes your neighbour.”

Then some whispered:  “It often seems as if He desired us to love all men.  But that is too difficult.”