8. The Good Samaritan

Long Ago and Far Away
A curriculum by Dan Harper currently in development, v. 0.1
Copyright (c) 2026 Dan Harper

The Good Samaritan

One day, Jesus was talking to a lawyer about the Jewish laws of God. Jesus asked the lawyer, “How do you understand what is written in our religious laws?”

“That’s easy,” replied the lawyer. “We are supposed to love our God with all our hearts and minds; and we are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

“Do you really believe this?” said Jesus.

“Yes,” said the lawyer. “But I have a question. I’m supposed to love my neighbor as much as I love myself. But who is my neighbor?”

To answer this question, Jesus told this story:

One day, a man from Jerusalem was going from Jerusalem down to the city of Jericho. On the road, the man was ambushed by robbers. The robbers beat him up, took all his money, and even took most of his clothing. The robbers left the poor man, bruised and unable to move, lying by the side of the road.

Now by coincidence, just a little later a priest from the great Temple at Jerusalem was going down the same road. The priest saw the man lying there, but instead of stopping to help him, the priest looked the other way and hurried on by.

A little later, a Levite came down the same road. Levites were the official helpers of the priests of the great Temple at Jerusalem, and only a little less important. Like the priest, the Levite took one look at the poor man lying by the side of the road, looked the other way, and hurried on by.

A little later, a man from Samaria came walking along the road. Now people from Jerusalem and people from Samaria did not like each other, and when the poor bruised man from Jerusalem saw a this Samaritan walking along, he was sure the Samaritan would just walk on by like the priest and the Levite.

But this Samaritan was moved to pity at the sight of the poor man lying by the side of the road. The Samaritan went up to him, bandaged his wounds, and poured healing oil on his wounds.

Then the Samaritan hoisted the poor man onto his donkey, brought the poor man to an inn, and looked after him. The next day, the Samaritan went to the innkeeper with some silver coins and said, “Look after that poor man until he gets better. On my way back, I’ll make sure to pay you back if there’s any extra expense.”

Once he had told the story, Jesus then asked the lawyer, “Which of the three was a good neighbor to the man who had been attacked by the robbers?”

The lawyer answered, “It was the one who had mercy on him.”

And Jesus, “That is how you, too, should act.”

SESSION 8: The Good Samaritan

Top-level educational goals:
(1) Have fun and build community;
(2) Increase “Biblical literacy”;
(3) Build skills associated with liberal religion, e.g., interpersonal skills, introspection, basic leadership, being in front of a group of people, etc.

Educational objectives for this session:
(1) Get to know other people in the class;
(2) Hear a story from the Hebrew Bible;
(3) Be able to talk about one or more incidents or themes from the story, e.g., if parents ask what happened in Sunday school today.

Preparation:

Coming soon.

I/ Opening

Take attendance.

Light chalice with these or other words: “We light this chalice to celebrate Unitarian Universalism: the church of the open mind, the helping hands, and the loving heart.”

Check-in: Go around circle. Each child and adult says their name, and then may say one good thing and one bad thing that has happened in the past week (anyone may pass).

II/ Read the story “The Good Samaritan”

Read “The Good Samaritan” out loud.

III/ Act out the story

We will help the children internalize the story by acting it out.

Ask: “Who are the characters in this story?”

Set up the stage area, and have the audience sit facing the stage area. The lead teacher reads the story, prompting actors. At appropriate moments in the story, you may want to prompt the children to think through the following things:

Coming soon.

IV/ Conversation about the story

Sit back down in a group. Now ask some general questions: “What was the best part of the story? Did the story make sense to you?” — or questions you come up with on your own.

Now some questions specific to the story.

Now open-ended questions about the moral of the story. Note that I’ve chosen Bible stories that are also great literature; and great literature resists easy interpretations.

V/ Other activity or free play

Activity specific to the story.

Free play.

VI/ Closing circle

When time is almost up, have the children stand in a circle.

When the children are in a circle, ask them what they did today, and prompt them with questions and answers, e.g.: “What did we do today? We heard a story, right?” — etc. You’re not trying to put any one child on the spot, but rather drawing on the wisdom of the group as a whole.

If any parents have come to pick up their children, invite them to join the circle (so they can know what it is their children learned about this week).

Say the closing words together, or other words of your choice:

Then tell the children how you enjoyed seeing them (if that’s true), and that you look forward to seeing them again next week.

If any children left any drawings or completed coloring pages, post them on the bulletin board before you go.