One day a lawyer stood up from among the crowd who listened to Our Lord and asked Jesus a question. He did it to try the Lord and see if He would say something that the priests might think wrong. He said, "Master, what shall I do to gain eternal life"--that is, life in Heaven? And Jesus said, "What is written in the law?" And the lawyer said, "The law tells me that I must love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength, and my neighbour as myself." Our Lord said, "You have answered right; do this and live." But the lawyer, not yet satisfied, asked, "Who is my neighbour?" And Our Lord answered by telling him a pretty story. A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho: it was a wild, lonely road over the hills; and he met some thieves who robbed him, took off his clothes, wounded him, and left him for dead by the road-side. And by chance a priest came by that way but he did not help the poor man; he crossed over to the other side of the way and went on. Then, a Levite, one of the men who served the priests in the Temple, came that way; he stopped and looked at the poor man, and then left him and crossed to the other side of the road. Next, a Samaritan came along--you remember, do you not, that the Jews hated the Samaritans?--but this man, when he saw the poor wounded Jew lying in the road, had pity on him. And he went to him and bound up his wounds, putting oil and wine to them, as people used then to do; and he lifted him off the hard ground and put him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day, when he had to go away, he called the host--that is, the man who kept the inn--and gave him two pence--which were worth more than a shilling--and said, "Take care of the poor man, and whatever you spend I will repay you when I come again." [Illustration: THE ROAD FROM JERUSALEM TO JERICHO.] "Which of these three men do you think was neighbour to the man who fell among thieves?" asked Our Lord. And the lawyer could not help answering, "He that had mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same." One day Our Lord told His disciples of what would happen soon, how He must go up to Jerusalem and die for them and for all the world; and that made them very sad.