The Good Samaritan

Jesus loved to tell stories, and this one has a very surprising hero.

One day, a man who knew all about God's law came to Jesus. He wanted to test him with a big question. He asked Jesus what he should do to live forever with God. Jesus answered with a question of his own. He said, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" The man knew the answer. He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus said, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live." But the man wasn't finished. He wanted to know exactly who counted. So he asked, "Who is my neighbor?" So Jesus told him a story.

Once, a man was walking down the long, rocky road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road wound down, down, down, between dry and lonely hills. Suddenly, robbers jumped out! They hurt the man, took everything he had, and ran away. They left him lying by the side of the road, too hurt to get up.

After a while, footsteps came along the road. It was a priest! A priest served God in the temple. Surely he would stop and help. The priest saw the hurt man. But he crossed over to the other side of the road, and kept on walking.

Then more footsteps. This time it was a Levite, a man who helped in God's temple too. He came and looked at the hurt man. Then he crossed over to the other side as well, and hurried on his way.

The man lay there, all alone. Would anyone help him?

Clip, clop, clip, clop. Along came a Samaritan, traveling with his donkey. Now, here is the surprise. In those days, Jews and Samaritans did not get along at all. They didn't eat together, and they hardly ever even spoke to each other. Nobody listening to Jesus expected a Samaritan to be the hero of this story!

But when the Samaritan saw the hurt man, "he was moved with compassion." That means his heart ached for the man, and he just had to help. He knelt down beside him. He gently poured oil and wine on his hurts, and wrapped them up in bandages. Oil and wine were like medicine back then. They helped to clean and soothe the sore places.

Then he lifted the man onto his own donkey, and walked beside him, all the way to an inn. An inn is a bit like a hotel, a place where travelers can eat and sleep. All that night, the Samaritan took care of him.

The next morning, he gave the innkeeper two silver coins. He said, "Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return."

He didn't help just a little bit. He helped all the way.

When Jesus finished his story, he looked at the man who had asked the question. He asked him which of the three travelers had been a neighbor to the hurt man. Was it the priest? The Levite? Or the Samaritan?

The man answered, "He who showed mercy on him." Mercy means being kind to someone who needs help, even when you don't have to be. Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." Likewise means in the same way. Jesus meant, now you go and be kind like that, too.

This story teaches us that everyone is our neighbor, even people who seem different from us.

When someone is hurt or sad, we don't walk past. We stop and help, and if we're little, we can get a grown-up to help too.