Jesus has a way of turning a simple conversation on its ear. "Who is my neighbor?" A simple question really, but Jesus knew that the question the lawyer was really asking was "What is the smallest group of people that I am required to reach out to as neighbor?" This question, the question that actually lay on the lawyers heart is the one Jesus responds to in the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus tells the lawyer in a long and round about way that he is asking the wrong question. A better question, Jesus points out, is how can I minister to my neighbor? Assuming, I think, that the lawyers next question would be, "and how do I love my neighbor?" (by that of course he means "what is the minimum I can do toward my small group of neighbors I already like to get a ticket to eternal life?") Jesus makes his point through hyperbole.
A Samaritan, the outcast of Jewish culture, is a better follower of the law than the Priest and the Levite. He doesn't do the minimum to make things right, but instead goes above and beyond; binding his wounds, getting him to safety, and paying his way. To the lawyer, this would have been a ridiculous image; a Samaritan doing these nice things to an Israelite, but to Jesus this is love of neighbor. Despite the fact that the man lying near death may have been a man who spit in the face of the Samaritan the day before, the Samaritan goes out of his way to care for his neighbor.
"Who is my neighbor?" You are asking the wrong question.
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