Who is my neighbour?

An entertaining and surprising re-telling of a famous story of Jesus. (Taken from Wayne Rice’s book  Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks)

If you have not read the original (or have forgotten) here it is again.
We enter a scene with Jesus in debate with a religious scholar. He asks the scholar what he thinks are the most important commandments ……….

“What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?” said Jesus.

He (the scholar) said “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence — and that you love your neighbour as well as you do yourself.”

“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill — I’ll pay you on my way back.’

“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?” …..

Luke’s gospel Chapter 10, THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language by Eugene Peterson

Wayne Rice has had a profound influence on youth and children’s work for almost 50 years. This story is from his collection Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks.