Reel Luke

Jesus Tells About a Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Intro to Reel Luke
Reel Luke Leader's Guide
More Reel Questions

Helpful Stuff to Know

❮

  • There was no love lost between Jews and Samaritans. At one point, they’d been part of the same extended family and kingdom, but that was centuries earlier. In Jesus’ day, they didn’t trust each other. They intentionally avoided each other. Jews believed Samaritans hadn’t remained faithful to God and true religious practices. When traveling throughout the region, Jews would often go out of their way to travel around Samaria, adding many miles to their trip.
  • This parable is found only in Luke.

Be Sure Not to Miss

❮

  • Jesus told this parable in answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” A Jewish person might have felt OK if Jesus had said, “Samaritans are your neighbor and so you must love them even though you (think) you're better than them.” But Jesus turned the story upside down and made the Samaritan the person who loved their Jewish neighbor, showing kindness in the opposite direction from what people would have expected.
  • Before the Samaritan showed kindness to the Jewish man, two Jewish people did not show kindness to him — a priest and a temple assistant. Jesus turned things doubly upside down by having the “good guys” act badly and the “bad guy” act rightly.
  • At the beginning of the parable, Jesus introduced “a Jewish man.” At the end of the parable, Jesus simply described him as “the man who was attacked by bandits.”
  • At the beginning of the parable, Jesus introduced “a despised Samaritan.” At the end of the parable, Jesus simply described him as “a neighbor.”
  • The Samaritan didn’t help the hurt man for just a moment. He continued caring for him.

Be Careful About

❮

  • Remember that this parable has specific lessons for us. Don’t read it just as a beautiful and interesting story. Look and listen for the deep and lasting truth.

1. Read Luke 10:25–37

Here's a few different ways you can read and recap the story with your group.

  • Read it through one time with people just listening to you. Then read it through a second time with people following along in their own Bibles.
  • Ask a few people to act out the story while you read it.
  • Ask one or two people to retell the story after hearing it.
  • Ask two people to retell the story in the first person, as though they were actually there. One person can do the play-by-play (tell the details of what happened), and the other can offer color commentary (add details about how they felt, what surprised them, what confused them, etc.). First-person retelling can make the story feel more real. It's also a blast.

2. Reel Questions (set the scene)

  • Where did this story happen? What do you think it looked like? Smelled like? Sounded like?
  • Make a list of all the people in the story (including "crowd" if there is one), and give a one-word description of each e.g. impatient, desperate, funny, selfish, awkward, etc.
  • List everything that Jesus did and said in the story. What was your favorite scene or statement?

3. Story-Specific Questions

  • Why do you think Jesus told a parable to a Jewish man where a Samaritan helped a Jew instead of a Jew helped a Samaritan?
  • Why do you think Jesus told a parable where two people did not help a hurt man before a Samaritan did? Why not just skip the first two unhelpful people?
  • If Jesus were telling this story to you and your friends (or your school), how do you think he’d tell it? What people would he feature in the story? Why?

4. Wrap-Up Question

  • Why do you think this story is included in the Bible? What do you think God wants us to learn from it?

5. Pray