We love because He first loved us.
To fully grasp the parable of the Good Samaritan, it helps to consider what led Jesus to tell it in the first place.
After affirming the greatest commandment—
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbour as yourself.” – Luke 10:27
—an expert in the law, a Pharisee, followed up with a pointed question: “And who is my neighbour?”
This question revealed the Pharisee’s true intention–to justify his own behaviour.
So instead of giving him a definition, Jesus delves into the story (read in Luke 10:25-37).
At the end of the parable, Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour?” (verse 36) and the Pharisee replied, “The one who showed mercy.”
But take note: the word the Pharisee used for mercy means to take pity. Jesus, however, described the Samaritan as having compassion—a love that flows from within and moves to action.
When Jesus said “go and do likewise”, He wasn’t commanding the Pharisee to rescue every wounded stranger on the road. He was challenging him to love with sincerity and depth—not legal obligation.
This must’ve been very difficult for the Pharisee to grasp. As an expert of the law, he was trained to think in rules, not cultivate love. Pharisees were known to add regulations to a law that was already impossible to keep.
In Luke 11:46, Jesus rebuked men like him:
“You experts in religious law […] crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.”
Jesus showed that what was needed wasn’t more rules or demanded behaviour, but a change of his heart attitude.
Jesus wants the same for you. Not more rules. Not shallow gestures. But a heart stirred by His love, overflowing in genuine compassion, not just pity.
The source of this love is Jesus Himself. We can love others, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
