There are many trouble-spots in the world today: Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, and the ‘forgotten war in Sudan, to name a few.

In most of them there will be small groups of dedicated medical workers from Doctors without Borders (DWB) or Médecins sans Frontières.

They seem to be motivated by a boundless compassion for those in need because they are fellow human beings.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus chose a Samaritan, from a group normally despised by the Jews, to be the one who showed compassion and practical help to the badly injured traveller.

DWB is a huge organisation and for most of us there is little we can do to help it, except provide financial aid.

But in one-to-one situations, like that of the injured traveller, what can we do?

The parable arose after a persistent scribe asked Jesus who his neighbour was. Jesus quoted the second commandment about loving one’s neighbour, saying it was “like unto” the first (Matthew 22:39)—a phrasing I’ve always understood to suggest that the second holds equal importance to the first.

If so, it would mean that loving one’s neighbour, or caring for them, was just as important as loving God.

And ‘caring for’ not only includes the life and death situations but also such simple things as a kindly visit to a lonely person, or some practical help to a recent immigrant or refugee who is struggling with a different language and culture.