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PARABLE: The good Samaritan

 {PARABLE} The good Samaritan_ 

Luke 10:25-37 

 
We know that one of the two great commandments is that we are to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’. The question is... what makes a neighbour? Geographical proximity? Race? Religion? Sharing the same social or economic status? 

 
[Group discussion starter] Do you feel guilty when you see images or video of starving people om TV or in magazines or online? Should you? Explain. 

 

In this study, a religious leader asks Jesus to tell him what it means to love one’s neighbour. With his response, Jesus our traditional definitions and shatters our stereotypes... 

 
[Read Luke 10:25-37] 

 

Put yourself in the place of the “expert in the law” who is questioning Jesus in this story. How might you feel in response to your first two encounters with Jesus? 
 

 

What kind of answer do you think the lawyer was expecting from Jesus when he asked, “Who is my neighbour?” 
 

 

If you were this lawyer, what thoughts and feelings might you have to the story Jesus tells in response to your question “Who is my neighbour?” 
 

 

The situation described in verse 30 was common on the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho. In what situations today is non-involvement seen as a wise choice? 

 

Why do you suppose Jesus picked a Samaritan, someone from an ethnic group Jews detested, as the “hero” of the story? 
 

 

[Activity] Describe the Samaritan’s actions from the point of view of; 

  • Personal inconvenience 

 

  • Financial cost 

 

  • Risk 

 

How might one (or more) of these factors discourage your own neighbourly actions? 
 

 

In verse 36, Christ’s question wasn’t intended to prove that the Samaritans could be better neighbours than the Jews. Instead, what was Jesus getting at? 
 

 

In the statement “Go and do likewise” (verse 37) what exactly was Jesus telling the lawyer to do? 
 

 

Think of a time when you experienced love from someone which was expressed in a practical way. What was it like to be loved in this way? 
 

 

In what practical ways can we “go and do likewise” today? 

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