Field Dalling Family Service 03-02-02
Good Samaritan - Luke 10: 25-37
Introduction:
We all live with RULES don’t we?
Question: How many of you drove to church by car today?
Question: On what side of the road did your Mum or Dad drive?
The reason they drive on the left hand side is because there is a rule or law in England that you must drive on the left hand side of the road.
Question: What other rules do we have?
Sitting down on the bus to school?
Cleaning up your room
In our reading today, Jesus said there were only two rules in life.
1. To love God
2. To love our neighbour
1. Loving God
Jesus said the first rule – he used a long word Commandment but it means the same - is that we should Love God.
This means spending time with God. If you don’t spend time with your friends, they soon stop being friends don’t they?
Praying is on e way we spend time with God. It is simply talking to God as you do a friend. Another way of spending time with God is reading all about God, which we do in our Bibles.
We get to know our friends by spending time with them. And Jesus said that getting to know God is very important.
Story: When I was 16, I went on a Christian camp in Oxford over Christmas. One evening, I went into my room and said: Jesus, if you exist like my friends say you exist, I want to know you.
And I felt the presence of God in my room there and then.
2. Loving our neighbour
Jesus taught that the second rule in life was loving our neighbour – or caring for our neighbour.
Sounds simple – but ’Who is my neighbour’?
So Jesus told a story to teach people that our neighbours are those around us.
He told the story of the Good Samaritan:
I wonder how many of you can remember the details of the story.
1.The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho
A Jew went down on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
It is a very steep road and very windy road. I’ve been on some of that road - when I was in Israel two years ago. It was the sort of place where you could ambush people.
Question: So what happened to the man on the road?
Answer: He got beaten up by robbers.
But help was on the way, wasn’t it?
1.1 The Priest
Question: Who was the first person that came down the road?
Answer: A priest.
Question: What did the Priest do when he saw the man lying in the road?
Answer: He walked on by.
Question: Have you ever thought why he walked on past?
Answer: Perhaps he was scared that if he hung around, the robbers might come back and get him too?
Perhaps he had to preach at church – and didn’t want blood on his clothes.
Perhaps he was just scared to help?
1.2 The Levite
Well if the Priest hadn’t time, perhaps the next guy on the road will help.
Question: Who was the next person along the road?
Answer: A Levite.
Question: Any one know what a Levite was? No, not someone who sells Levi Jeans!
Answer: The Levite was a bit like a churchwarden today, someone who was well respected and ran the church.
Question: What did the Levite do?
Answer: He too walked on by.
Question: Why do you think he rushed off by?
Answer: Do you think he might have been in a bit of a hurry to go and open the synagogue up in time for the service?
1.3 The Samaritan
Help was on the way.
Question: Who was the next person who came by?
Answer: The next chap by is a Samaritan
Question: Does any one know what a Samaritan was?
Answer: In Jesus’ day, the Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews. The Jews hated them because they were not pure Jews. They had other customs and had married non-Jewish people, something God had expressly told the Jews in the Old Testament not to do.
Question: So why do you think the Samaritan didn’t just walk on by. He could have done. It isn’t my business is it?
Answer: He felt sorry for him.
2. Application
Nice story isn’t it. The man’s enemy helped him and looked after him.
But Jesus’ stories are more than nice stories. Jesus told stories to teach people things.
Question: Have any of you noticed something strange in the church today?
Answer: A fish.
Question: Why do you think there’s a fish here?
Answer: Have you ever seen films of salmon swimming up stream when they want to bread?
It is fantastic when you see these great fish leaping into the air as they try to climb up waterfalls.
Sometimes they have to try time and time again to fight their way up the powerful currents and through the rocks.
Compare that to the dead fish. Dead fish simply float with the current and rot, instead of leaping up waterfalls.
In real life we often have to swim against the stream. That means going against what your friends are doing, if what they are doing is not right.
For example, when someone new comes to school and no one wants to sit with him or talk to him. What do he or she is lonely. Do you come and be their friend or do you say: I’m happy with my friends and that’s all that counts.
Are you friendly to him or do you ignore him or her?
Or what do you do when someone - who isn’t your friend - gets bullied in the playground.
Do you tell the bullies to stop it or do you just look away – like the Priest and the Levite did in the story.
We do have a choice in life. One way is tough, and sometimes lonely, but exciting. Like the Good Samaritan in the story, we need to care for others – even if they are not our friends.
Let’s pray about what we have heard.
The Bible reading today showed us that
We need to love God and
to love our fellow human beings.
This is a prayer by David, the shepherd boy, who became king:
Lord, tell me your ways. Show me how to live. Guide me in your truth. Teach me, my God, my Saviour. I trust you all day long (Ps. 25:4-5)
So let us bow our heads for the Blessing
May the Lord bless us and watch over.
The Lord make his face shine upon us
And be gracious to us
The Lord look kindly upon us and give us peace
And the blessing of God Almighty
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
Be among us and remain with us always. Amen
