The good Samaritan has become short hand for kindness to strangers, but what does it really mean? It's a parable taught by Jesus to a man full of self worth and self satisfaction who thinks he deserves to gain heaven by the measure of his own self importance. In reality he was a million miles away from God, The parable is a litmus test of the condition of a man's soul. Only those born again and born of God, new creatures by faith in Jesus have the capacity to truly reflect the love and compassion of God; a love which loves the unlovable and likes the unlikeable. The lawyer failed the test of reality. He had big religious aspirations but no spiritual transformation. The parable is also the story of the inevitable human tragedy; that at the end of a road that drops down, down, down; that sinks to record lows heading towards the Jericho of depravity, destruction and the curse we rarely strike gold at the bottom and more often draw from a well of deep grief and sorrow. Only Jesus can transform such a condition and such a person.