!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Welcome to Sunday at TBC Kids online!!!Today the theme is ‘Jesus says: Let’s love others.’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!First, let’s have a look at today’s story. You can watch it here: !!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osfQg4yKtq8 !!You can also read the story in your bible. If you have the Beginners Bible is it on page 379, or you can find it in your full bible at Luke 10: 25-37. !!Here it is in context (you can click on the speaker icon to listen to it): !!https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10&version=NIVUK !!Here’s a link to a KS1 Intro Vid from Sarah : https://youtu.be/wVWscXkT3ks ! !And here’s one to a KS2 Intro Vid from Sarah: https://youtu.be/zC7D_Uq0fZY !

Today’sBibleStory

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Think how much the Samaritan’s day changed! He probably had plans; he knew what he was doing, where he and his donkey were going. Maybe he was off to visit relatives, maybe on his way to work, or to buy food for his family. But when he spotted an injured man lying in the road, all those plans went out of the window!!!Immediately he sprang into action, washing the man’s wounds and bandaging him up. And he went further still, putting the man on his donkey and taking him to an inn for the night, to make sure he was OK. By putting the injured man first, the Samaritan no doubt made himself very, very late. He may even have missed all his appointments. !!What a nice guy! !!!Can you think of people who! have put you first when you !needed caring for? Maybe a !family member? Maybe a health! care professional? Maybe a teacher? !!

!The parable of the good Samaritan!!Jesus said: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”!!36 ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’!!37 The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’!!Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

What about you? Have you ever stopped doing something you really wanted to do, to help someone else? Maybe you stopped playing a game in the playground to help someone who had fallen over? Maybe you put your work on pause to help someone else with theirs? !!God loves it when we love our neighbour as ourselves (verse 27), when we recognise that other people’s needs are just as important as our own and we try to put them first. It’s being self-less instead of selfish; thinking about how we can help others before we think about what we want for ourselves.!!This sounds easy, but in real life it is really difficult!!!Do you agree?!!But Jesus makes it more challenging still…!!He does this by putting two other people in the story. Who are these people? A Priest and a Levite - both were people who served God in the temple. Both were people who knew God’s laws inside out. !!

! ! ! ! ! !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! BUT, both were people who!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! took one look at the injured !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! man…. !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! and carried on walking!!!!!!!!This shocks us, doesn’t it. But they probably had their reasons. By the temple laws they needed to be ‘clean’, and touching the injured man could mean they weren’t able to do their job in the temple that day. They were probably also scared - what if the robbers were still around and could attack them too?!!But Jesus hints that these reasons (or excuses?) just aren’t good enough. How does He do this? By making the next person to walk by, the Samaritan, someone who had a BIG reason to just keep on walking. !!

Jewish people and Samaritans did NOT get on. They had not got on for centuries. They had no time for each other - it could even be said that they hated each other. !!So when, in Jesus’ story, !the Samaritan stopped to help !the injured Jewish man, he !was clearly doing something big. !!Really big!!!!He wasn’t just loving someone he knew and liked. He was loving - his enemy!!!Remember Jesus talking on that mountaintop in Session 2? If you read his whole speech in the bible, He says that we should do exactly what the Samaritan does.!!Quick, look up Matthew 6: 43-47 !!https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A43-47&version=NIVUK !!So, who is our neighbour? !!!!!!!!EVERYONE! Good or bad, smiley or frowny, friend or enemy - everyone.!!Which means we need to be spreading a whole lot of God’s love around!!!As you go through the Deeper activities (Find them via the session page), think about how you can love the people around you, both in your home and further afield. Who can you phone to say Hi? Who would appreciate a note or a card in the post? Also, think about those key-workers who are caring for us and our communities right now - we need to thank God for them! Time to go Deeper - enjoy the activities!!