Questions for Reviewing the Story, "The Good Samaritan"
Gather children in chairs set in a semi-circle. Review the story, "The Good Samaritan," with these questions:
- Who did Jesus think was the lawyer's neighbor?
- Did Jesus mean that everyone is our neighbor? Did he mean that everyone should be treated with care, no matter who they are?
- A commandment in the Hebrew scripture says to "treat your neighbor as yourself?" I wonder what this means?
- Does anyone know what the "Golden Rule" says? Who in this story practiced the Golden Rule?
- Why do you think the first two people in that story who passed the wounded man did not help him? (Possible answers: They thought that he was from a different religious or ethnic group. He was a stranger whom they didn't know. They didn't consider him to be someone they had to help. They were afraid — maybe robbers were still nearby, or maybe the man himself was faking it to attack them. They didn't think he was hurt that badly. They were too busy.)
- If you have done the participatory version of the story, ask the two children who played the people who didn't stop to help, "How did it feel to be acting out this part and not to help the wounded man?"
- Why do you think we are willing to help some people more than others?
- How do you think the man felt after he had been hurt and robbed?
- If you have told the participatory version of the story, ask the child who played wounded man how they felt.
- In what ways did the Samaritan help the wounded man? (Make a list that includes, giving his time, wine, strength (walking while the man rode on his donkey) energy, food and money.)
- What did the Samaritan expect to receive in return for helping the man? (Discuss the fact that sometimes helping others involves sacrifice on our part. In other words, it involves generosity, sharing, and giving up things that we wanted to keep or wanted to do. Do you think the Samaritan man regretted sharing all of these things? Why, or why not?
- If you have told the participatory version of the story, address these questions directly to the child who played the Samaritan.
Golden Rule Role Play Scenarios
- What if you fell off of your bike on the side of the road? How would you want to be treated? What if you saw it happen to someone you didn't know very well in your neighborhood?
- What if someone at school was bullying you? What would you want other people to do? (You may want to get more specific here: What if someone were spreading mean gossip about you or someone else? What if a group of children surrounded you on the playground or at the bus stop and threatened to hurt you? What if you saw this happening to someone else?)
- What if you dropped your lunch in a puddle, on the way to school? What if it happened to someone else? What if it happened to someone who had been mean to you before? How would it feel to share with someone who had been mean to you?