Lesson 1 The Good Samaritan

Transcription

1 Lesson Outcome You will know who Jesus is describing as a neighbour and you will have individually identified some of your neighbours with whom you can engage with the Gospel. Practical application/keywords: SLOW DOWN Read Luke 10:: And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? 27 So he answered and 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 neighbour as yourself. 28 And He said to him, You have answered rightly; do this and you will live. 29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30 Then Jesus answered and said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. Note: In this Lesson we will concentrate on the word neighbour. It appears in Vs. 29 where the question is asked, who is my neighbour? Two further references are found in Vs. 27 & 36. We need to establish who the characters who passed by the man were - two were very busy Israelites doing God s will, the other a Samaritan, who slowed down and stopped? Jesus choice of characters would have been offensive to the Jews! Q: Do you know who the Samaritans were and their relationship with the Jews? A: Historians tell us the Samaritans came into existence after the Assyrian Empire invaded Northern Israel and captured the region of Samaria in 721 B.C. They deported most of the Israelites and re-populated the region with captured

2 foreigners - idol worshippers - from other lands. They had intermarried with the Israelites who remained. When the exiled Israelites returned from captivity, they could not accept the Samaritan mixed-race as being true Israelites as the Samaritan s religion was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry. As a result, an intense hatred developed between the Samaritans and the Jews. The shortest route from Jerusalem to Galilee was through Samaria, but the Jews would cross the Jordan River twice in order to skirt around it. But, not Jesus! Busy going about the Lord s work but missing the One Those who passed-by the beaten man: T he first two were religious leaders in Israel. The first, a priest[1], He was one of the keepers of the temple in Jerusalem. The second, was a Levite[2]. Both men were busy about serving God in the way that they best understood. The beaten man was left half-dead. To passers-by he would ve looked like a corpse, or nearly so. By Jewish law the dead were unclean and anyone who touched a dead body would also become unclean. The Levite and the priest were on their way to conduct service for the Lord. If they had slowed down and stopped to assist this man and he died, they would be unclean and, by law, forbidden from entering the temple until the following evening. They couldn t have that, so they passed on, possibly thinking, I m going to do what s really important in my service for the Lord in his temple, They may have thought, Someone will come along soon and tend to him, and hurried on! These two men[3] had no time for compassion as they were so caught up in what they thought was God s will for them that they missed an opportunity to do the right and neighbourly thing. Q: Are you sometimes like this? What situations does this tend to happen in? A: Discuss with the lifegroup (e.g. when in a rush to get somewhere or setting up) The one who stopped: The third traveller, to the Jew, happened to be a despised and hated Samaritan! However, h had compassion for the man - a Jew - he slowed down and made tim e to stop and check on either a seemingly dead, or dying man! Like the Israelites, he too was probably on business and in a hurry? Yet, he chose to slow down, stop and do the neighbourly thing! The question put to Jesus : In Verse 29 the interrogating lawyer, or scribe, asked Jesus, And who is my neighbour? The Lord answered him by relating our

3 Parable to him. Being a scribe, or interpreter of the Hebrew Scripture laws, he would have known very well who his neighbour was! Who is your neighbour? For Christians, serving the Lord is not something that only happens when we go to church, there are opportunities all throughout our week to serve God and one another. We need to slow down from our often hurried lives and look who our neighbour is? It could be the person at the next desk? The person on the bus/train/ferry who catches the same one as you every day? Perhaps you don t even know the first name of the person next door, even though you ve been their neighbour for 18 months or so and never engaged with them? A ctivity: Stop Pray Engage (15minutes) 1. Have the Lifegroup pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help them identify a neighbour they need to engage with. e.g people at the Supermarket checkout; coffee shop and other places you may frequently visit. The mums you meet when picking up your kids from school. OR if everyone has already filled out the 3 for 3 cards, have each person pray for the people on their cards and then collect them for subsequent weeks. 2. Brain-storm ways to engage with them Some ideas: (a) Start by simply saying, Hi, you could start your day with a short prayer like Lord, how should I greet the person I meet every day on the bus/train/ferry; at the Servo counter. (b) For those who live around you could take some cake/scones to them; offer your help if they are not well or home recovering from a sickness in hospital, or giving birth; grieving for the loss of a loved one; bringing in their wheelie bin, and so on. 3. When the Lord puts someone on your mind, always ask them open-ended questions, then listen and learn about their life. Resist trying to jump in and tell them all about your life that can come later! 4. Learn to give your own short testimony (no longer than 3 minutes) do not just talk about your life, but learn how to transition into sharing the Gospel with them.

4 An example from Jesus Regardle ss of Israelite perception of Samaria, Jesus journeyed through it, on one journey he slowed down to encounter a Samaritan Woman at a Well,. His neighbour. Read John4:5-9 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me a drink. 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus took the first step and engaged the Samaritan woman in conversation, further along in the story, we see Jesus listening as the Holy Spirit told Him things about her, Jesus witnessing to her according to her need and finally many of her fellow Samaritans believing in Him! Conclusion Like Jesus in the encounter above, we need to learn to SLOW DOWN and engage with those we encounter in our day to day lives. Application of the Lesson In Your Life Make a point to do at least one thing from the brainstorm activity. Remember to STOP-PRAY and ENGAGE with people Feedback on the Lesson Is there one thing God challenged you about in this lesson that you will do differently? Prayer Lord, please help us to slow down and be sensitive to who You want me to speak to, or do something for, in the course of each day. Help me be aware of the people around us that need to encounter You through us.

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