WHICH WAS NEIGHBOUR?

A certain woman went down from Washington to Richmond and ran over a spike which punctured her tyre and left her stranded by the side of the road. After raising the hood of her car and tying a scarf to her radio antenna, she locked the door handles and sat in the car, praying to the Lord to send help! By chance, there came a limousine with a bumper sticker that read, “Smile, God Loves You!” When the occupants saw the stranded woman, they passed by in the far lane, without smiling. And likewise, there came a sports car with a CB radio and a bumper sticker saying, “Honk If You Love Jesus!” The man who was driving, passed by in the far lane without honking and without using his CB to tell the Highway Patrol about the woman’s dilemma. But a certain working man, as he travelled to his job, came to the spot where the woman was, and when he saw her raised hood, white scarf, and flat tyre, he had compassion on her. He stopped his old beat-up pickup - which had no bumper sticker - and crossed the four-lane highway, and offered to change the tyre. The woman opened the door and gave him the key to the trunk. The man took out the spare tyre, jacked up the car, removed the flat tyre, and replaced it with the spare one. When he had finished, the woman tried to pay him. He refused the money, saying, “If my wife were stranded on the highway with a flat tyre, I’d want some Good Samaritan to stop and help her out.” He returned to his bumper-stickerless truck, smiled, honked at her, and went his way. Which of these three was neighbour unto her who had a flat tyre? - Selected