What did Jesus really mean when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan? And how have we gotten it so wrong? In this message, we explore how Jesus radically redefined the concept of “neighbour” — turning a narrow, tribal definition into a universal call to compassion. While the Hebrew word in Leviticus 19:18 originally referred to fellow Israelites, Jesus deliberately exploded these boundaries in one of his most challenging parables. This isn’t just ancient history. The same tension Jesus addressed — between using God’s word to justify our boundaries versus letting it break our hearts open to the whole world — is alive today. The Challenge: Can we recognize as our neighbour the very people we’ve been taught to fear or exclude?
