The Gospel of Luke contains the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells it in response to a question about who counts as a neighbour, making the story an answer about compassionate action rather than group identity.
In the parable, a wounded traveller is ignored by a priest and a Levite. A Samaritan stops, treats the man’s injuries, transports him to an inn, and pays for his care. The Samaritan’s role is significant because Jews and Samaritans had longstanding religious and social tensions.
The story appears in Luke 10:25–37 and is unique to Luke among the four canonical Gospels. It is often remembered as a general lesson in kindness, but its original force also came from making a socially distrusted outsider the model neighbour.
The phrase “Good Samaritan” later became common in English for a helpful stranger and appears in the names of modern charitable laws and organizations.