The Good Samaritan
Two people walk past a man who needs help. A third one stops.
Read aloud in about five minutes.
“Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:37
- A traveller is robbed and hurt
- Two people pass by without stopping
A dangerous road
Jesus told this story to answer a question: who counts as my neighbour? He described a man travelling a lonely road who was attacked by robbers and left hurt at the roadside.
Two respectable people came along that road. Both saw him. Both crossed to the other side and kept walking.
- A Samaritan stops to help
- He bandages the wounds himself
The one who stopped
Then a Samaritan came along — someone the listeners would not have expected to be the hero of the story at all. He stopped, bandaged the man's wounds, put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn.
He paid the innkeeper to look after him, and promised to cover anything more it cost on his way back.
- He pays for the man's care
- Being a neighbour means stopping
The point
Jesus finished the story with a question of his own: which of the three was a neighbour to the man who was hurt?
The answer is obvious, which is why the story works. Being a neighbour is not about who is nearby or who is like you. It is about who stops.
Something to print
A colouring page, a cut-and-stick craft and six talking questions come with this story.