Teacher's Note:
Mr. Mike, the puppet, should be prepared in advance with a sash wrapped around his head as one might see on a Samurai. Mr. Mike should come on the scene in his normal way but eventually, you do need to ask about the sash. This is your lead into the story.
What's with the bandana around your head Mr. Mike? Did you hurt yourself?
Hurt myself? What? Oh, no. This is a sash like a Samurai might wear.
Oh? So today you are pretending to be a Samurai?
You bet. I wanted to like our hero, "The Great Samurai"?
"The Great Samurai"? Who is he? I don't know that I have ever heard of "The Great Samurai".
What? You have never heard of "The Great Samurai" and you call yourself a man of God? Shame on you! However, if you have a few minutes, I'll tell you the story of "The Great Samurai". Would you all like to hear about "The Great Samurai"?
<yes>
Once upon a time there was a man who was traveling down a road through the middle of a gorge. This was a scary place and he should not have gone on this journey by himself. His Mommy told him "Don't you go down to Jericho by yourself, Junior. You wait until next Monday when your brothers are going so you will be safe."
But, did Junior listen to his Mommy ? Nooooo.
On the way, some bad men jumped out from behind some rocks and started beating him about his head and shoulders until his lips bled. They took his stuff, including his coat of many colors which his Daddy had given him.
Instead of running off with all their pickings, the bad men kept teasing and picking on Junior. They said many mean things about Junior like "Junior's a Mommy's boy" and "I got your coat and you can't have it". These were very mean men.
Now, wouldn't you know it, but down the road came a religious leader. "I'm saved" thought Junior. The religious leader saw what was going on and thought to himself "These bad men never pick on me because I am held up as a very moral and spiritual man. I dare not involve myself in the affairs of this world." With that, the spiritual leader went on by, pretending to have not noticed that there was anyone on the road but himself.
The men continued to pick on Junior "Na. Na. You're so small no one even notices you are here."
Another man came down the road and saw what ill had fallen upon Junior. "Oh dear", thought the man who was a politician. "If I protest their behavior towards Junior they will think badly of me. It won't make them change and, besides, I'm expected in Jericho by lunch time."
And with that, the politician hid behind a rock on the side of the road and slithered his way past Junior and those bad men without them even noticing. One of the bad guys almost did catch our politician, thought. "Do you smell something? Whew!"
Suddenly, down the road could be heard a thundering of hoof beats. Why, it was our hero, "The Great Samurai" riding his gallant burro, Buckwheat!
"Eee Haaw!" as our hero dashed right through the pack of bad men, picked up Junior and swung him to the Buckwheat's back. Then off he went in a cloud of dust which left the bad men gasping for breath! "Who was that sashed man?" they gasped.
Down the road he found an Inn where "The Great Samurai" turned Junior over to the Inn keeper. "Take care of him until he is well, my good man. Here is a silver ninja star for your hospitality. I will provide more if necessary upon my return."
"Where are you going, oh 'Great Samurai'"?
"I return to catch those evil doers and bring them to justice."
"Hi Yo Buckwheat! Away!"
And with that, our hero sped back up the road to rout out these bad men and give them a good thrashing!
So that is the story of "The Great Samurai" ? Where did you ever hear of this story?
Jesus told us this parable. Luke wrote it down in Luke 10:25-37. This Jewish feller wanted to know who his neighbor was and so Jesus told him this story. It seems the Jewish people didn't like Samurai very much.
I see. I suspect, Mr. Mike, you have gotten a few of your stories mixed up here. Let's see if we work this out.
[The children are always yelling out what's wrong with the story, sometimes even making it hard for me to finish it. The adults, however, said Mr. Mike did a good job and had no corrections or questions. They just clapped as if that were the end of it --- until "I" told Mr. Mike he had messed up the story. Grownups took some coaxing to help get Mr. Mike's story unravelled - which is the real learning process.]
That was the story. From here on out, we take the story which was given, and interactively, take it apart and put it back together again. By interactive, I mean I try to get whomever to tell me what certain things.
No. The man could be anyone. In fact, it needs to be anyone so that we can imagine we are the man who is beaten and robbed.
Other than "Junior" not being a Jewish name, it is possible the man was warned not to travel the road alone by someone. Moms have always been like this and always will be.
Yes. It was in a gorge running between Jericho and Jerusalem. Jericho was 15 miles from Jerusalem and was where many priests lived when they were not serving in the Jerusalem temple.
This gorge was always prone to thievery and other deviltry but even more so when Jesus spoke of this Parable. The reason is because King Harod had recently laid off 40,000 workers. Some of these workers had turned to thievery and located themselves in this gorge, which was called "Adummim" (Pass of Blood).
Another interesting thing about this gorge was, Priests were not robbed. It seems even bad guys draw the line somewhere.
Let's think about this a little. 40,000 laid off workers. Maybe 5 miles of gorge full of robbers and thieves. The first robber to meet you takes everything you have. What does the 2nd robber get?
Well, this doesn't get us anywhere, but it is interesting. Don't you think?
No.
After having taken everything of value and most all his clothing, they left him half dead. No one who came by had to be concerned of robbers on the man's account. They may consider themselves fortunate so far and realize they needed to make haste to escape from the "Pass of Blood" before they made a similar contribution.
Do you suppose he had Levi jeans and a Wrangler jacket? Maybe Niki shoes?
Actually, few had many changes of clothing as we have today. Clothing was a necessity, but it wasn't plentiful. Look at the story of Sampson, which occurred before there was banking. The bet made with the Philistines was for 30 suits of clothing, for example.
The first man was a Pharisee. As such, a Pharisee, more than any other, should know how to put God's laws into practice. This didn't seem to happen though. I don't know why.
Why don't we stop to help those sitting at Interstate exchanges or others holding up signs saying they will work for food? We pass on by many people who are in need all the time.
Why?
The second man was a Levite, which is a religious lawyer, or counselor. It is the Levite's job to help us make good, moral choices in keeping with God's message.
It doesn't appear the Levite did a much better job of putting into practice what he taught.
As Jesus told the story, the second man passed on the other side of the road but did not necessarily sneak by. Yet, the phrasing of the question does remind us of our own faults.
How often have we seen someone hurt and in need and have acted as if we had not seen? Sometimes you can read their pain and petition in their eyes. If we can pretend we have not noticed their plight, aren't we, in essence, invisible?
So perhaps the Levite saw the man and, by passing on the far side of the road, could presume the man was already dead and beyond help. To pass closer was to perhaps observe a detail which would complicate the Levite's life at that particular moment.
Have we not done like wise?
The word is actually, Samaritan, not Samurai. A Samurai is a Japanese Warrior. A Samaritan is a Jewish half breed. There were 3 groups of people. Jews, non-Jews (called Gentiles), and Samaritans, which are of both Jewish and Gentile heritage. The Jews held the Samaritans to be lower than a Gentile, if this were possible.
No respectable Jew would talk to a Samaritan. A Jew would rather let a Gentile be the go between them and a Samaritan, if things got that desperate.
Now, if a people group is really that despicable and lowly, well, what sort of virtue would such a people have? Is it possible?
When Jesus describe a Samaritan as being the only one to show compassion, there was something profound happening which may escape our notice, but not the Jew at that time. A Samaritan was capable of a decent act? A Samaritan was capable of compassion?
You see, prejudice does not only give us a low opinion of a particular people group, but it also gives us a solid opinion of all these people's characteristics, their morality, and their values.
Oil and wine were used as medicines for open wounds in those days. The oil would make a coating which would insulate the would from the outside, germy air. The wine would contain alcohol, which would kill some germs.
Open our eyes and care for those in need.