Friendliness
“A friend loves at all times…” – Proverbs 17:17A
Today we took a look at the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He 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]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In 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. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He 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. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] 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.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
What you may not know about Samaritans is that in that day Jews looked down on Samaritans. It was pure racism. Jesus took the most unlikely character in the Jewish setting and made him the hero. He took the priest and Levite – the higher esteemed and holy to be made low. The Samaritan was the neighbor. He was the friend.
My kids are pretty familiar with this story, but I told it to them anyway. Abby was just completing the story as we went along. We then acted it out.
Elmo was our man who was beat up. This was admittedly everyone’s favorite part. I had a strange satisfaction with it too. We then acted out the rest with Corban and Kenzie walking by and ignoring him and Abby playing the Good Samaritan who would help. We talked about how part of being friendly is learning to be like the neighbor in this story who was willing to step out and help a complete stranger.
