Parable of the Good Samaritan

This week's parable is the Good Samaritan. There is a foldable for the review project. The kids will love it! It is fun and easy, but you can discuss so many different neighbor things and make it work for several Bible lessons.

For today's visual, I set up an area with a cave, grass, rocks, path, etc. I added the animal and Good Samaritan. I added brown paint for dirt and red paint for blood for my traveling man.

We are learning about Jesus and His ministry. The last couple of weeks we have talked about parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning that Jesus taught. The lesson is found in Luke 10:25-37.

A lawyer came to Jesus with a question. He wanted to test Jesus and asked Him “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25) Jesus asked him what is written in the law? How do you read it?

The lawyer answered with: {Luke 10:27} “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 told the lawyer he was right. And the lawyer wanted to know who is our neighbor? Jesus answers with another parable, the parable of the good Samaritan. (Luke 10:30.) A man went from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was a dangerous road and thieves loved it because there were a lot of hiding places, like caves, for them. The road was full of curves. The area was called Adummim (a-dum'-im) or the pass of blood. It was scary. It was treacherous. The people could understand what Jesus was telling them. 

Some robbers attacked the traveling man. They took his clothes, hurt him and left. He was barely alive!

A priest walked by. During the time of Jesus, a priest took care of the temple sacrifices. You’d think a priest would stop to help, but when he saw the man lying there, the priest went to the other side of the road and passed by him.

Next, a Levite came by. A Levite’s job was to help take care of the temple. When the Levite looked at the injured man, he passed by on the other side too. [there were 12,000 priests back then]

But then, a Samaritan man was walking by, and he saw the injured man. Jesus is telling this parable to a Jewish lawyer, and Jews and Samaritans did not like each other…at all. So, to expect the Samaritan to help the man would be extra hard, but the Samaritan had compassion for the hurt man. The Samaritan treated his wounds. He used wine to disinfect the cuts and oil to help ease the pain.

The Samaritan put the injured man on his own animal, possibly a donkey (Jesus isn't specific in His parable) and took him to an inn. The Samaritan took care of him there.

The next day when the Samaritan was leaving, he took two denarii (de-nar'-ee) (The Roman coins they used) and gave them to the innkeeper. The Samaritan man told the innkeeper to take care of the man and said: "When I come again, I will repay you the rest."

Jesus asked the lawyer who he thought was the neighbor, and the lawyer said the one who showed mercy. Remember, the lawyer didn’t like Samaritans and couldn’t even say the word, Samaritan! But Jesus told him to “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37

According to Jesus we are love our neighbors, but strangers also. Jesus also wants us to be nice and help others when we can. Since the man in the parable was a Samaritan, and he was a good man because he helped the hurt traveler, we call this parable the 'Good Samaritan parable'.

This is an updated worksheet from an older cut and glue worksheet. I wanted something to add kids’ stickers to and less ink to print. You can purchase any children (or any people) stickers to use. I used these. Or, you can have the students write assorted ideas about treating others like God expects us to as you discuss “Who is our neighbor?” on the open edges of the paper. Or, add heart stickers with things like love others, love God, obey parents, etc.

 Click here to download the worksheet in color and black & white.

I created this foldable for today's less as a conversation starter. I say that a lot, don't I? But I like a fun, quick, easy way to review and let the kids think about how to apply the Bible lesson to their life.

 This needs cut out (on the solid lines, and folded (on the dotted lines). Directions: Cut around the outside on the solid line. Follow the solid line cutting on the left side of the 'consideration' section. Follow the solid line cutting the inside of the shape out. Where it says 'consideration' (under that it says page 1), fold that backward on the dotted line. You or the students will glue 'How can we help our neighbor' title to the back side of the 'consideration' page to create the front cover. Continue folding accordion style on the dotted lines as seen in the bottom right photo until all parts are folded. On the back of the last page, you or the student will glue the 'Sharing is Caring' circle.

They love fun stuff like this! It will fold up and fit in their hands, but when it is spread out, it is a heart! There is a picture and the next section has lines for what they can do to be a neighbor. This can be used for a lot of lessons! It is also available in color or black & white! Click here to print it

 

Click here to print the worksheet.

Bible Verse: Luke 10:27

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.

Click here to download the lesson.

Click here to download the visuals.

Click here to download the pictures to color.

These visuals have been updated. The set has the 'cloud' removed and other corrections have been made. Not all visuals are shown that are included in the download.

 

Click here to download the updated color visuals.

 

Click here to download the black & white pictures to color.

Click here to see the Samaritan Man song and stand-ups.