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The Parable of  

                                                           THE GOOD SAMARITAN

                                                                       Luke 10:25-37

     The minister of the tiny church closed his sermon to his congregation by quoting the Bible:

               “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 you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

     As the minister finished the church service, Johnny and his mother packed up their belongings and went out to their car.

     “One more day until Disneyland”, said Johnny, as he buckled up his seat belt.

     “Yes”, said his mother.  “You’ve been very good and we finally have enough money saved up to go there.  I’m excited, too!”

     As they drove home, Johnny looked again at the pamphlet about Disneyland.  He knew by heart the pictures of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the other characters.  He knew it was going to be hard to sleep that night.

     “Oh, no!” said his mother suddenly.  “Where’s my purse?  I must have left it on top of the car before we drove off.”  She quickly turned the car around and headed back to the church.  They soon found it in the church parking lot.  She checked her wallet and found that their Disneyland money was safe. 

They both sighed with relief.  “God is watching over us”, she said.

     As she headed back home again, she noticed the minister in his car in front of them.  Also in front of them was one of their neighbors in their station wagon.  She honked and waved at both cars.  They pulled out of the parking lot in a line, and all three of them headed in the same direction.

     Johnny pointed down the road straight ahead of them to a figure on the right side of the road.

     “What’s that?” he asked

     “I don’t know”, said his mother.  “It almost looks like a man.”

     The minister was the first one to come up to the figure, but he drove right by it.

     “It must be an old rug or something”, said his mother.

     Their neighbor’s car in front of them veered to the left side of the street to avoid hitting the object.

     Johnny looked at it closely.  “It moved!” he said.

     His mother pulled the car over right away.  “Stay here”, she told Johnny, as she got out of the car.

The man lay half in the street and half on the sidewalk.  He groaned, and she thought he was just drunk, but she at least wanted to get him off the street.  As she drew closer to him, she saw blood on his shirt and a cut on his forehead where he was still bleeding.

     “Are you alright?” she asked.  The man appeared unable to answer; he just curled up in a ball and moaned.  “We’d better get you to a hospital”, she said.  She helped him up and walked him over to the car.  He remained doubled over and continued to groan.  Now she was worried.  She hurried to open the car door and told Johnny to help her get him into the car.

     “He’s hurt”, she explained.

     “We should take him to the hospital”, Johnny said.

     “Yes, Sweetheart”, his mother said.  “There’s one right down the street.”  She used a clean rag to bind up the wound on his head to stop the bleeding.  Then she drove quickly to the nearest hospital.  Within minutes, they were both helping the man into the emergency room.

     “I found him in the street”, his mother explained to the receptionist.  “He’s hurt.”

     “We need one hundred dollars for the emergency room fee”, the receptionist replied.

     “I don’t think he has any money”, said Johnny’s mother.

     “You can take him to the free clinic downtown”, said the receptionist, “but this is a private hospital.”

     The man groaned again and collapsed to the ground.  Johnny and his mother knelt over the man and looked at each other.

     “I’m sorry, Johnny”, his mother said.  “We’re going to have to spend our Disneyland money to help this man.  He’s badly hurt.”

     “I know, Mom”, said Johnny.  It’s all right.  We can go to Disneyland some other time.

     His mother almost burst out in tears.  “You are such a good boy”, she said.  “We’ll be able to go next month for sure.”

     “It’s okay, Mom”, Johnny said.  “Really.”

     She paid the fee, and the hospital workers took the man away in a stretcher.  They stayed in the emergency waiting room for another two hours before a doctor came out to see them.

     “There were no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system”, the doctor said.  Apparently, he was beaten up and robbed.  It looks like he will be alright, but I’d like to keep him overnight for observation.”

     A nurse poked her head through the doors and called the doctor in to handle another emergency.

     “How much will it be for him to stay overnight?” Johnny’s mother asked the receptionist.

     “Two hundred dollars more”, the receptionist replied.  “Once they get him stabilized we can transfer him to a county hospital.”

     Johnny and his mother looked at each other.  “Do we have enough?” Johnny asked.

     “Just barely”, his mother said.

     Johnny smiled, which surprised his mother.  What surprised her more was that she found herself smiling, too.  She gave the receptionist the money and told her that they would stop by again in the morning to see how the man was doing.

     On their way home, they didn’t talk much, but Johnny held his mother’s hand.  He also stayed close by her for the rest of the evening.

     “What time should we go to see him tomorrow?” Johnny asked his mother as she tucked him into bed.

     “We should get there before check-out time”, she said.  “About nine o’clock should be good.”

     Both she and Johnny slept peacefully that night.  The next morning, when they got to the hospital, they had a surprise.

     “Your friend made a miraculous recovery during the night”, said the nurse.  “He was checked out to go home early this morning… but he left you a note.”

     The note said simply, “Inasmuch as ye do unto the least of these, my brethren, that ye do unto Me.”

THE GOOD SAMARITAN  (Luke 10:30-37)

    “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

     And by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  

     And likewise, a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 

     But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

     And on the next day, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.’

     Which now of these three, do you think was a neighbor to him that fell among thieves?

      And he said, ‘He that showed mercy on him.’

      Then said Jesus unto him, ‘Go, and do likewise.’”