Who is my neighbour?

Even in churches, I am not sure that people today really grasp the significance of the parable of The Good Samaritan.

Jesus told the story against a backcloth of racial hatred. The Samaritans were not so much gentiles as 'renegade Jews'. They were hated and despised.

So when Jesus told a story where the Samaritan was the hero and the Jewish religious people were cold and unfeeling - the story would have caused a tidal wave in a rockpool.

It was meant to!