Faith Quest

 

The Good Samaritan

 

Good News

 

Scripture:  Luke 10: 25-37

 

Memory Verse: Luke 6:27-28 (CEV)

"Love your enemies, and be good to everyone who hates you.  Ask God to bless anyone who curses you, and pray for everyone who is cruel to you."

 

Concepts:

§      We are good neighbors when we show kindness and mercy toward others no matter who they are.

§      Disciples of Jesus Christ must listen to his teachings and then go out and live them.

 

Objectives:    

  1. To assist students in their understanding of how they know they are doing the right thing when helping others.
  2. To assist the students in understanding the difference in saying “I will do something good” and/or taking action on their plans to do good. This lesson will help them begin seeing how they are to help their “neighbor”. 
  3. To help the students to understand that God has called us to love the way God loves and that is unconditionally. 

 

Procedure:               

Welcome and Introductions:

1.     Greet the children and introduce yourself.  Wear your nametag.

 

2.     Explain the purpose of this workshop.

 

Remember the twist in the Good Samaritan parable is that a member of a despised and rejected group is cast as the hero.  One of the lawyers speaking to Jesus who is in the “in group” is told by Jesus to act like the good but rejected man.  This story is not just about “doing good”, it is about how we view others and the kind of people God favors and wants us to be. 

 

 

3.     God has called us to love in a way that is not always easy.  God says we should love unconditionally.  We should love everyone, because God loves everyone.  The Bible has parables, stories Jesus told to help us understand God’s truths.  Today we are going to learn about one of those parables, the Good Samaritan -where Jesus will show us we are to love all people and to treat them as God would treat them.  We know that is tough to treat all people with love and kindness.  It is hard to love the men (snipers) who killed people in Maryland and Virginia last year.  It is hard to love folks that are mean to others.  It is hard to show kindness to someone who makes fun of you and your friends.  But God provides us the tools we need, and you will discover a few new tools this morning.

 

 

Scripture/Bible Story:

q      Have the Children to stand and say the memory verse. At the beginning of the rotation you might want to have the verse written on poster board or chart paper.

q      Ask them to bow their heads for prayer. [Dear Lord, thank you so much for our freedom to come to the Kirk to worship.  Help us to listen this morning so we can learn new things that you want us to do.  Be with our friends who are sick or sad.  Thank you for your Son, Jesus. Amen]

q      Have them to sit and open their Bibles to the Scripture.  Luke 10: 25-37 Ask who would like to read, or have them to each read a verse.  At the end – you might want to provide a sticker to the children who brought their own Bible.   

 

Application:

  1. After reading the scripture share an overview of the parable using the attached notes and key words. 
  2. Have key words on poster board, the memory verse on poster board, a map to show where this story took place. The mountains were steep and dangerous – ask them if they have ever been on a hike in the woods and the ground was not flat and level.  How did they feel?  Have they ever walked in their house without the lights on, how did they feel?  This might help set the stage for the journey the men were going to hear about during the parable.  
  3. After reading the scripture and providing an overview of the key concepts, to make the story more relevant, ask them what it would be like for their family to help a stranded driver on the road, or to go and feed the homeless in a shelter.   This is an example of how the Samaritan helped a stranger.  Bring to light that there are dangers in helping others in certain situations – and that they need to remember the rules their parents have set for them.  If they see someone in need of help but cannot help, they could call 911.
  4. Depending on what you want to do: select one of the following options for reinforcing the concepts of the Good Samaritan:

Ø     Take butcher paper or chart paper taped together to make a mural wall.  Provide the students with water based markers and/or crayons that will not bleed through the paper.  Divide the mural into four large sections and divide the class into four small groups.  Each group is to draw a scene from the parable.  Group 1 – Lawyers and religious leaders asking Jesus questions about – What should we do to inherit eternal life? And how Jesus told them to “Go and do likewise”. Group 2 – How we should love our neighbor as our self.  Group 3 – People passing an injured man on a mountain trail.  Group 4 – the Samaritan helping the man from Jericho.  The Shepard might want to assist the groups with ideas and/or to re-read the scripture covering their scene.

Ø     OR – read the story Barrington Bunny, from the book The Way of the Wolf: The Gospel in New Images by Martin Bell.  Attached is a copy of the story.  The story is wonderful, a little long, but the children will love the story and it shows how an animal tried to make others happy, and how one animal tried to save his life.  Optional: give each child a stuffed animal to stroke and pet while you read the story. This will help keep their attention while they listen.

 

Reflection Time:

Ask the shepherds to pass out the journal sheets and pencils/markers. Suggestion: You may wish to give the children a sticker or some memento to paste in their journal as a reminder of the story or activity.

Prompts for journal writing:  The Good Samaritan – Please list a time when you/and or your family helped someone in need.  How did the experience make you feel?  OR List and/or draw three things you could do to help someone. When will you act on these items?

 

Closing:

Prayer:  Suggestions for the closing prayer – Lord make us show mercy to our friends.  Help us to find ways to keep peace and be gentle with all those around us.  Thank you for using parables to help us understand what we are to do to help each other. We pray that we will be kind to our classmates this week and treat them, as we would like to be treated.

 

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help tidy up. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights. You might want to store your story props in the closet in the Puppet Room, since others use this room.

 

Teacher preparation in advance:

1.     Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.

2.     Prepare an opening prayer for your lesson.     

3.      Please read the scriptures.  Read and re-read the attached story so that you become familiar enough with the story that you can tell the story instead of reading the story to the students.  Making props will assist you in the delivery of the story – but is not necessary. 

 

 

 

Suggested Supply List

Ø     Chart paper for listing key words/meanings, Memory Verse and for the wall mural. 

Ø     Waterproof markers and/or crayons.

Ø     Barrington Bunny if you are going to read the story instead of having them to create a mural about the Good Samaritan.

Ø     Stickers for rewards if you so desire

Ø     Stuffed animals for storytime

 

References

§       Lori Houck’s Bible Study Lessons

§       Good Samaritan Rotation lesson online (www.rotation.org) by Neil Mac Queen (Hilliard Presbyterian Church)

§       The KERYGMA program – Parables, Stories for Life in God’s World by Richard J. Henderson (The Kerygma Program, Suite 205, 300 Mt. Lebanon Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15234, phone 1-800-537-9462)

§       The Way of the Wolf: The Gospel in New Images by Martin Bell

 

 

 

 

Notes for the overview of the Good Samaritan with key words to review:

 

You could ask the children if they know what the following words mean, once they have read the story and you provided an overview of what happened.

 

Compassion – pertains to the Commandment about loving God and neighbor, not to exclude anyone, to be kind to all of God’s people.  Sharing and showing mercy toward others.

 

Priest – officials in the Temple, like our ministers.  During the time of Jesus, the Priest was one of the most privileged or wealthy groups in society and they were not to touch a dead body because they would then be unclean. Jesus was concerned that many priests were not very compassionate and did not like helping folks that were not like them.

 

Levite – a temple helper who had to remain clean.  The Levite who passed the man on the road may not have stopped because he did not know if the man was still alive.  If they touched a dead body they too could not perform rituals in the temple.

 

Samaritans – they were outcast people because they were of mixed ethnic and religious backgrounds. They were not fully Jew and so many folks did not like them.  (How do we treat others that are different from us?)

 

Disinfectant – during the time of this story oil and wine were used as a disinfectant to help clean a wound and help the wound to heal.

 

Hope – an expectation, a wish or a desire – Jesus hoped the people would have compassion on all the people and not just certain groups. 

 

Eternal Life – When a person becomes a Christian – they believe that Jesus Christ is their savior.  Faith in Jesus and following his commands will help us to have eternal life.  When we die our souls go to heaven and we will live with Jesus in heaven. 

 

 

Questions for the story; Barrington Bunny:

 

1.     How did Barrington show his compassion for others?

2.     How did the animals in the forest treat Barrington?

3.     What did the wolf do that was similar to what the Good Samaritan did?

4.     Other? s

 

If the students create a wall mural on the Good Samaritan, review their work and ask the students to share what they have learned about this parable.  Maybe post the murals in the Fellowship Hall or the Great Hall. Have the class to sign their “Faith Quest” name.