The Good Samaritan

Opening

Read Luke 10:25–37 aloud, slowly, with one person reading and everyone else listening rather than following along. Then ask what stood out — before any discussion of what it means.

Discussion questions

1. The lawyer asks who his neighbour is. What is he hoping the answer will be?
2. Luke tells us the priest and the Levite saw the man. Why do you think the parable says so little about why they walked on?
3. The Samaritan gives his supplies, his animal, his money and an open-ended promise. Which of those would be hardest for you?
4. Jesus changes the question from “who is my neighbour?” to “who was a neighbour?” What changes when you ask it that way?
5. Where is the road from Jerusalem to Jericho in your week — the place where you are most likely to pass by on the other side?

Closing

End with verse 37 read once more: “Go, and do thou likewise.” Leave a minute of quiet before closing, without adding to it.

Answer key

For the leader. These answers are not included on the printed question sheet.

1. Who stopped to help the injured man?
   A Samaritan — The priest and the Levite both saw the man and “passed by on the other side.” It was the Samaritan — an outsider to the people Jesus was speaking to — who “had compassion on him.” (Luke 10:33)
2. What question was Jesus answering when he told this parable?
   Who is my neighbour? — The lawyer opens with the question about eternal life, but Jesus sends him back to the law and he answers it himself. The parable comes after the second question: “willing to justify himself,” he asks who his neighbour is. (Luke 10:29)
3. Where was the man travelling when the thieves attacked him?
   From Jerusalem down to Jericho — “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” The road drops steeply over about seventeen miles, and the direction is in the text: he went *down*. (Luke 10:30)
4. What did the Samaritan pour into the man's wounds?
   Oil and wine — “Pouring in oil and wine” — the ordinary first aid of the time, carried by an ordinary traveller. The parable makes a point of how unremarkable his supplies were. (Luke 10:34)
5. How did the lawyer answer when Jesus asked which of the three had been a neighbour?
   He that shewed mercy on him — He answers correctly without saying the word Samaritan: “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus replies, “Go, and do thou likewise” — the same instruction he had already given before the story began. (Luke 10:37)