Lucas 10

Jesus taught that we must show our love to everyone, even ones we do not like to associate with.

25 One day as Jesus was teaching people, a man was there who had studied carefully the laws that God gave Moses. He wanted to ask Jesus a difficult question. So he stood up and asked, "Teacher, what shall I do in order to live with God forever?" 26 Jesus said to him, "You (sg) have read [RHQ] what Moses has written in the laws that God gave him. What did Moses write about living forever?" 27 The man replied, "He wrote that we (inc) must love the Lord our God. We must show that by what we feel and by what we do and by what we think. He also wrote that we must love people that we come in contact with as much as we love ourselves." 28 Jesus replied, "You (sg) have answered your question correctly. If you do all that continually, you will live with God forever."

29 But the man wanted to defend the way he acted toward people that he came in contact with (OR, to defend why he had asked a question that Jesus answered so simply). So he said to Jesus, "Which people that I come in contact with should I love?" 30 Jesus replied by telling him this illustration: "A Jewish man was once going down along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Bandits attacked him. They took away most of the man’s clothes and everything else that he had, and they beat him until he was almost dead. Then they left him. 31 It happened that a Jewish priest was going along that road. When he saw that man, instead of helping him, he passed by on the other side of the road. 32 Similarly, a man who worked in the temple in Jerusalem came to that place and saw the man. But he also passed by on the other side of the road. 33 Then a man from Samaria province came along that road to where the man was lying. People from Samaria despise Jews. But when he saw that man, he pitied him. 34 He went over to him and put some olive oil and wine on his wounds to help heal them. He wound strips of cloth around the wounds. He placed the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next morning he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of this man. If you (sg) spend more than this amount to care for him, I will pay you back when I return.’" 36 Then Jesus said, "Three people saw the man whom bandits attacked. Which one of them acted in a loving way toward that man?" 37 The man who studied the Scriptures replied, "The one who acted mercifully toward him." Jesus said to him, "You (sg) go and act like that toward everyone whom you can help!"