Parables -
Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
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A city councilman in Erie, Pennsylvania, has identified an important issue. He thinks something should be done about it. His proposed remedy won't work.
Jim Casey thinks relationships with one's neighbors is important. On his view, television, computers, and other devices that tend to close us in our houses or apartments have made neighborliness obsolete for many people. Security, civility, and quality of life would be enhanced if people got to know each other.
So Casey put an idea before the Erie City Council to study whether it should require all new homes in that city to be built with front porches. "We need to get out and meet our neighbors," he said. "If porches can help us get back to that good quality of living, then good." We could wish it were that simple!
Thinking that porches will create better communities is akin to thinking laws could cure racism. True enough, some laws needed to be passed. Those laws established a minimal standard of what would henceforth be regarded as acceptable. But they didn't make a single bigot open-minded and tolerant. Neither will front porches create community and neighborliness. It takes much more.
A verse in the Old Testament says this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). When Jesus referred to this text approvingly one day, a certain fellow in his audience became defensive. "And who is my neighbor?" he wanted to know. So Jesus told what just might be the best-known story in all literature. He told about a Samaritan who came to the aid of a Jew who had been beaten, robbed, and left to die. The same poor man had, by the way, been sidestepped by two people of his own ethnic and religious group (Luke 10:25-37).
The Gospels aren't anti-Semitic, and the point of the Parable of the Good Samaritan isn't to put Jews in a bad light. The basic problem in human relations isn't a lack of front porches but a lack of mutual respect.
According to Jesus, the way to love your neighbor is to take a risk, extend a hand, and do something positive in the life of a person outside your customary circle of friends. In your neighborhood, workplace, or church, you know who and where "they" are. This week is your chance to approach just one.
Opening Questions — Get Us Thinking:
Have you ever helped a stranger in distress? What happened?
The Parable of the Good Samaritan — Luke 10:25-37
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’c ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’d ”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He 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.35The next day he took out two denariie 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.’
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
· Brainstorm types of people who are considered the unloved in our society today.
· What is the main point to the parable?
Research Questions — “dig deeper” to find God’s Will
1. What is Jesus’ point here?
2. Does the lawyer seem to think he has passed the test in verse 28? How so?
3. Why does Jesus answer with a story instead of a straight answer?
4. How might one justify the actions of the priest and the Levites?
5. If Jesus used this parable in Edmond today, who do you think he would use as the stories characters instead of the Jews and Samaritans?
6. Given the divisions between Jews and Samaritans, what's unusual about the plot twist in the story?
7. What did stopping and helping possibly cost the Samaritan?
8. Search verses 34 and 35, what all did the Samaritan do for the man in need? How is agape love different and higher than other kinds of love?
9. What would our country become if everyone “loved his neighbor” as the Samaritan did?
10. Put yourself in the place of the Samaritan in this Parable. What feelings do you experience when you realize a person who hates you need your help?
11. Why do you think God commanded us to love our neighbors or, even more difficult, to love our enemies? What do we learn about God when we do this?
Reflective Questions — live it today.
1. How does this Parable apply to us today?
2. If Jesus were telling the story to us today, whom would we most hate to see cast as the hero?
3. How is Jesus' challenge troubling to the expert in the law and to us today?
4. What attitude or behavior does God want you to have that is the most difficult to accept?
5. Imagine a conversation between the Samaritan and the Jew in the story. What are the first things you hear them say to each other?
6. Who has been a Good Samaritans in your life?
7. When you see someone in need of help, how does the person's appearance (race, clothing, cleanliness, status, etc.) affect the way you normally respond? Compare your usual response to God request that you “love your neighbor.”
8. What Makes a Good Samaritan really good?
9. To whom will you be a Good Samaritan this week?
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