The Good Samaritan

Lesson # 7 - The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37

Main Point: Your relationship with God is seen in how well you love people.

Prop: Large mirror

Luke 10:25-37(New International Reader's Version)

One day an authority on the law stood up to put Jesus to the test. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to receive eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" Jesus replied. "How do you understand it?"

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind.'(Deuteronomy 6:5) And, 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'"(Leviticus 19:18)

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do that, and you will live."

But the man wanted to make himself look good. So he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him. They stripped off his clothes and beat him. Then they went away, leaving him almost dead. A priest happened to be going down that same road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. A Levite also came by. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side too.

But a Samaritan came to the place where the man was. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him. He went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey. He took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins. He gave them to the owner of the inn. 'Take care of him,' he said. 'When I return, I will pay you back for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?"

The authority on the law replied, "The one who felt sorry for him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do as he did."

Say This: A lawyer came to Jesus and asked him 2 BIG questions:

1. What must I do to receive eternal life?

2. Who is my neighbor?

Both of these questions have very interesting answers, and today we are going to see how Jesus answered those 2 BIG questions.

PowerPoint: Question 1: What must I do to inherit eternal life?

As you study the life of Jesus, you will notice that He often answers a question with another question. This is exactly what happened when the lawyer asked Jesus, “What must I do to receive eternal life?” Listen to what Jesus said:

PowerPoint: "What is written in the Law?" Jesus replied. "How do you understand it?"

Power Point: He (the lawyer) answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind.'(Deuteronomy 6:5) And, 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'"(Leviticus 19:18)

PowerPoint: "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do that, and you will live."

Say This: When Jesus tells the man to “do this and you will live,” He is not saying, you can get to heaven by being perfect.

He is helping the man see his sin. Jesus knew that this man could never love the Lord with all his heart, and Jesus knew that this man could never love his neighbor as much as he loved himself.

Prop: A large mirror

Say This: God’s Word is compared to a mirror.

PowerPoint: James 1:23-25 For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law--the law that sets you free--and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Say This: Just like you look at yourself in the mirror, so you need to look at your life in the mirror of the Bible – God’s Word. If you look in the mirror and see a big glob of chocolate cake on your face, would you just walk away and let that glob be there all day? (No)

So when you read the Bible or hear it read to you, and God’s Word tells you that you have a big glob – or even a little glob of sin in your life – are you going to just walk away and not do anything about it? (No)

James 4:17 So when you know the good things you should do and don't do them, you sin.

PowerPoint: Show this picture

The Bible says that “He who has ears should hear”. We ALL have ears, and we need to LISTEN to what God’s Word says to us.

PowerPoint: Show this picture

Jesus is helping this man see that he has a big glob of chocolate cake on his face: this man thinks he is “good enough”, but Jesus is about to show him that his heart is no where near being filled with God’s love.

Jesus is trying to make the man see his need for salvation.

Then the man asks a second question:

PowerPoint: Question 2: Who is my neighbor?

Say This: Let’s look at WHY the man asked this second question:

PowerPoint: But the man wanted to make himself look good. So he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Say This: The man wanted to make himself look good. That’s almost funny, isn’t it? God knows EVERYTHING about each person. He knows every thought we think, He knows every word we say, He knows everything. It is impossible to “look good” to God!

Ask: (Refer to the PowerPoint picture): Does this little girl “look good”? (No) Why not? (She has chocolate cake all over her face).

Say: If this little girl thought that she looked good, we would all know that she is not clear on what “looking good” is. It’s the same thing with this man. He does not yet understand what it is to “look good” in God’s eyes. So Jesus is going to tell him a story –a parable – to help him understand.

PowerPoint: Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him. They stripped off his clothes and beat him. Then they went away, leaving him almost dead. A priest happened to be going down that same road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. A Levite also came by. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side too.

"Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?"

The authority on the law replied, "The one who felt sorry for him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do as he did."

Say This: The road between Jerusalem to Jericho was very dangerous. It was steep, and there were many places for robbers to hide. Everyone living at this time knew that this was a dangerous road, so when Jesus told this story, it was very easy for this lawyer to understand the situation.

PowerPoint: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him. They stripped off his clothes and beat him. Then they went away, leaving him almost dead.”

Say This: This man obviously is very hurt, and he needs help! It’s also interesting to note that the Jews and the Samaritans were ENEMIES!

(Note to Teacher: Ask the kids to call out some famous enemies like Superman and Lex Luther; Batman and the Joker; etc. This will help them better understand the significance of this lesson).

PowerPoint: A Jewish priest happened to be going down that same road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. A Jewish Levite also came by. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side too.

Say This: “It helps to understand the culture here - anyone who touched a dead man would be unclean. The priests could have used the excuse that they didn’t want to touch the man because he might have been dead. That would have kept them from serving God in the temple.

BUT, the priest and Levite were going "down on the road." (Jerusalem is on a hill) They were leaving Jerusalem and could not use the excuse that they did not want to touch the man and be unclean for worship. They had already accomplished their duties and were heading home. In fact, the story shows their hypocrisy. They had just been to worship God (love God), but did not help the wounded man (love neighbor). His refusal to love his neighbor casts doubt on his love for God.

The Priest was an expert in the law and undoubtedly knew of laws like those in Lev 23:4-5 which commanded that you help your enemy’s donkey if he was lost or overburdened, but he was unwilling to help a human in distress.

vs 32 The Levite was also from the tribe responsible for spiritual leadership of the nation. He also would “know” the law and what was required of him.

Ask: What did they do? Both ignored the wounded man lying in the road.”

(Quote from Hampton Keathly IV from www.bible.org)

Say This: The priest and the Levite were considered to be very religious people. The priest and the Levite knew in their HEAD what was the right thing to do, but neither of them did it. Their religion was made up of RULES. They obviously did not have a growing RELATIONSHIP with God. They should have been the first to offer help.

(Note to Teacher: To help children have a better understanding of a priest and a Levite, perhaps you could make this comparison: If your pastor/teacher ______was driving to church this morning, and he saw an injured child on the side of the road, what would you think he would do? Stop and help the child Obviously helping people is very important for EVERYONE, and it is definitely expected from those who teach the Bible.)

PowerPoint: Religion=Keeping the rules

Ask: Are we ever able to keep all the rules???? (NO)

PowerPoint: Relationship with God=Loving God and loving others

Say This: Let’s read the rest of the story that Jesus told:

PowerPoint: But a Samaritan (Samaritans were HATED by the Jews) came to the place where the man was. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him. He went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey. He took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins. He gave them to the owner of the inn. 'Take care of him,' he said. 'When I return, I will pay you back for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?"

The authority on the law replied, "The one who felt sorry for him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do as he did."

Say This: When the Samaritan passed by the injured man, he moved toward him. This is very important because you must move toward people in order to love, in order to build relationships. Loving relationships don’t just happen, and sometimes they aren’t convenient.

If you are having trouble in your relationships with other people, it may be that you are waiting for others to do something good for you. Maybe YOU need to move toward other people and do good to them. It’s sometimes scary to reach out to other people because they may say things that hurt your feelings, but when you love other people well, you are showing others that you love God!

The Samaritan stopped and took care of his wounds. He put him on his own donkey while he walked. He took the wounded man to an inn. It is important to recognize that he took the time to take care of him. In your world of busy-ness, it’s important to remember to take time for people!

He also gave money to take care of him, and he put no limit on how much he would spend to see that the wounded man was taken care of. He told the innkeeper to do whatever needed to be done to take care of him.

Jesus asked the lawyer,"Which of the three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?"

Of course, the answer is that the Samaritan proved to be the “neighbor” to the wounded man. The “enemy” was actually the only “friend”.

Let’s go back to that second question asked:

PowerPoint: Who is my neighbor?

By asking, “Who is my neighbor?” he is really asking, “How much do I HAVE to love?” Jesus tells this lawyer that love doesn’t look for limits, love looks to give above and beyond what would be “expected”. If you truly love someone, you give 100%!

The REAL QUESTION isn’t, “Who is my neighbor?” but rather, “Who am I a neighbor to?

The Samaritan showed genuine love to a complete stranger. He gave up his time and his money.

The Point: Your relationship with God is seen in how well you love people.