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Today’s hero is the Samaritan, he shows us the gift of MERCY.
Essential Teachers notes:
This is an interrupted story. If there is only one adult open a book / Bible to read the bits in bold then close it to tell the explanation, use this telling as notes rather than a script. Alternatively have someone else read the bold bits. This story stops with a question. Encourage the kids to discuss the question for a moment before moving on.
Main passage: Luke 10
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There are lots of commandments in the Bible, things God asks us to do. The two most important ones are – to love God and to love our neighbour. But, sometimes it’s hard to work out who are neighbour really is. Are they the person who lives next door? The people in our village, town or city? Or can a neighbour be anyone you meet?
Jesus was asked this question and he answered it with a special story, called a parable. A parable is a story that teaches us something. Sometimes the closer you look at a parable story the more it teaches us.
(open book) A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.
(close book) That’s a dangerous road. It was a busy road too. Many important people lived in Jericho and would walk up the long winding road to Jerusalem every day. back to the story…
He was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead.
They took everything, even his clothes. It looks like this story needs a hero to rescue this man.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
The priest knew that God’s word told him to care for those who were in need. This man was in need so why didn’t he stop? Jesus doesn’t say why but we can imagine. If the man wasn’t dead then he may be a trap, the priest could go and help the man and be robbed too. The priest had his special outfit on from a long day’s work in the temple, parts were made of gold and worth a lot of money. No he didn’t want that. The road was busy, someone else could stop and help him thought the priest.
Next came a Levite, when he saw the man, he too passed by on the other side.
A Levite, what’s a Levite? Levite’s helped the priests, they worked in the temple with them. Levite’s were often experts on scripture and the laws of God. So why didn’t this man stop? Perhaps he was thinking if the man had died then he would need to go through a long long process taking 7 days before he could go back to work at the temple. The others at the temple wouldn’t be happy about doing his jobs for a week. If a man of God (the priest) and an ordinary man who knows God’s commands (the Levite) didn’t help him then who would?
Finally, a Samaritan, came to where the man was.
A Samaritan, oh dear this one certainly won’t help. The Jewish people hated the Samaritans. Sometimes the Jews would walk really really long distances just to avoid going near the Samaritans.
When the Samaritan saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”
The people listening to Jesus must have been shocked. A Samaritan, really? And he gave the innkeeper two days wages, then promised more. That’s so generous. It’s also uncomfortable, imagine being helped by someone you hated?
‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ asked Jesus.
Today’s hero is the Samaritan, he shows us the gift of MERCY.
