“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “the one who had mercy on him.”  Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Notice the choice of words.  It is not, “the one who helped him”, or “the one who called others to assist the man.”  It is “the one who had mercy on him”.  The Samaritan saw the wounded man’s need as greater than his own plans.  Samaritans and Jews did not associate with each other, but he laid aside his prejudice to rescue a fellow human being from a situation where the wounded man could not rescue himself.

Are other people’s needs greater than our schedules, our prejudices, our plans?