Shock Horror!

Martyn Payne

Bible link: Luke 10:25-37

On your marks:

General introduction to the theme:

When God made people, one way they were like God was the ability to offer and receive the gift of friendship. However, following the choice to betray that trust in their friendship with God, this gift became easily broken. People often chose to hate others, turning friends into enemies. God never stopped longing for friendship with and between all. Finally, when God stepped into this world as Jesus, everyone could see the forever friendship that God offered. It was a friendship that was greater than the power of revenge, hatred and death and this was made available to anyone when Jesus rose from the dead. Again and again God showed through the stories in the Bible how hatred can be turned into love and enemies can become friends. This is the good news that we as Christians can pass on to a broken world.

Introduction to the story:

The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is so familiar to most of us that we can easily allow it to lose its original impact. The hatred between Jews and Samaritans was so intense—a Jew would not even allow a Samaritan’s shadow to fall across his path—that Jesus knew he was stirring up a real hornet’s nest by casting one as the third passer-by. And it is even more shocking than that! The lawyer wanted to probe into whom we should care for as neighbour. As the first part of Jesus’ story unfolded, it seemed to be leading to the ‘acceptable truth’ that anyone in need is our neighbour, even if the circumstances were risky. But the twist is that it is only the ‘lowlife’ of an outsider who understood this truth. Respectable Jews missed the point. And what’s more, the man in need had to be willing to receive help from someone whose shadow almost certainly fell across him. The outsiders, as often in the Gospels, are more attuned to the kingdom than the so-called insiders. They seem to know that true compassion turns enemies into friends and thus they show the way to how this world was meant to be.

The following idea explores this upside-down thinking about friends and enemies that the parable introduces.

Get Set:

Use the story version of this in The Barnabas Children’s Bible, story 279, 'The story of the good Samaritan', page 247.

Go!

1. The parables of Jesus are stories designed to bring us up short and make us think again. They take an unexpected twist or illustrate a surprising paradox, in order to get us thinking afresh about the kingdom of God. In some ways they are a bit like optical illusions. We think we see what’s there, but then suddenly we realise that there is something else, too. Print off some pictures of illusions for your group to tease them into this sort of thinking as a preparation for today’s theme. There are some optical illusions in the training material found in Core Skills for Children’s Work, or you can visit the website of Sightsavers.

2. Tell the story of the Good Samaritan as a story circle with plenty of colourful description and action to give material for the children to mime. Then explore the story further as a choice circus in which you put the children into two groups. One group suggests reasons why the Priest/Levite/Samaritan should stop to help, whereas the other group suggests reasons why not. Be prepared for some interesting insights. Ask the person chosen to play the Priest/Levite/Samaritan which inner voice he/she will follow.

3. In Stories to teach about God there is a modern-day version of this parable, using characters who should know what to do for someone in need and one character who is a deadly enemy of the person in trouble. Talk with your group about ideas for their own version of this parable that they can tell together.

4. There are some craft ideas for this parable based on the senses in Step into the Story.
Alternatively, you could incorporate some simple first-aid skills, such as learning to put someone in the recovery position or making a simple sling, as an activity linked to the story.

5. Extend the story further in groups by asking them to think what might have happened or have been said next. For example:

What did the innkeeper tell his friends about his overnight guests?

What did the Samaritan say to his family to explain why he was so late in arriving in Jericho?

How did the poor mugged traveller come to terms with having to receive help from a dreaded stranger?

What did one ‘look-out thief’, who was left behind, think about the different travellers’ reactions?

6. Turning enemies into friends is often about who is prepared to make the first move and what prompts them to do that. In the Samaritan’s case, the story says ‘he had compassion’ (Luke 10:33, RSV) to do something completely out of the ordinary. Why do you think, on this occasion, he was prepared to act out of character towards this Jew? What should inspire Christians to care in this sort of way for others?

Explore the origins of the organization the Samaritans, as an example of Christians and others choosing to act differently. There are information and follow-up ideas on this in Caring for Others Today.

7. There is a Godly Play reflective story version of the Good Samaritan with wondering questions in The Complete Guide to Godly Play Volume 3.

8. Include a time of prayer in your session with a particular focus on some of the ‘so-called enemies’ within your local community and in the UK today. Pray that compassion and the work of God’s Spirit may help us and others to act out of character and turn enemies into friends. To symbolize this during your prayers, move some simple outline figures from the edge of a circle into the middle to lie next to each other and then change your hand from a fist shape to a high-five greeting with the children either side.

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