The Good Samaritan: Adult Sunday School Lesson / Bible Study
Adults · 60 minutes · free Bible study lesson plan · Luke 10:25-37
An interactive adult study of the Good Samaritan, exploring the lawyer's two questions, the three travellers and Jesus' call to show costly mercy, with discussion, personal reflection and prayer.
Memory verse
And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. (Luke 10:37, KJV)
Lesson objectives
- Retell the parable in order and explain how Jesus answered the lawyer's two questions.
- Examine honestly the reasons we pass by people in need, and what compassion looks like in practice.
- Choose one concrete act of mercy to carry out this week.
The full lesson plan
Welcome: The Detour (7 min)
Greet everyone and invite them to turn to a neighbour (a person near them) for a quick share.
Say: "Think of a time you were running late and saw someone who needed help. What did you do?"
Give two minutes for pairs to share. Then ask two or three volunteers to tell the group, briefly, how it felt.
Say: "Most of us have good intentions and full schedules. Today Jesus tells a story about three people who saw the same need and responded in very different ways."
Say: "We will also meet a man who asked Jesus a good question, but perhaps for the wrong reason."
Write two questions on the board: "What must I do?" and "Who is my neighbour?" Tell the group these two questions will guide the hour.
Open with a one-sentence prayer asking God to speak through his word and to make us doers, not only hearers.
Say: "Now let's hear the story as Luke records it."
Read the Passage Together (8 min)
Read Luke 10:25-37 aloud from the KJV. For an interactive reading, assign four voices: Narrator, the Lawyer, Jesus, and the group (for the lawyer's answer in verse 27). Pause after verse 29 and after verse 36.
Say: "Listen for what each traveller sees, and what each one does about it."
After the reading, build a quick list on the board with the group calling out answers:
• The priest: came by chance, saw him, passed by on the other side (v. 31).
• The Levite: came, looked on him, passed by on the other side (v. 32).
• The Samaritan: saw him, had compassion, went to him, bound up his wounds, poured in oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, took care of him (vv. 33-34).
• Next day: gave the host two pence and promised to repay any extra cost (v. 35).
Say: "Notice the verbs. The Samaritan's compassion became movement, cost and time."
Say: "Now let's look at the conversation that started the story."
The Lawyer's Question (10 min)
Luke 10:25 says the lawyer stood up and tempted Jesus. His first question was "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus did not argue. He asked, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?"
The lawyer answered with Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18: love God with heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus said, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Then verse 29 tells us the lawyer was "willing to justify himself" and asked, "And who is my neighbour?"
Say: "The lawyer wanted a definition that would let him draw a line around his responsibility."
Say: "Jesus answers by telling a story that removes the line."
Background: lawyers in the Gospels were experts in the law of Moses. Keep this short; the text itself is the focus.
Teaching point: the commandment is clear, and the lawyer knew it. His trouble was not lack of knowledge but the wish to limit love. We often do the same by asking, "How little do I have to do?"
Quick pair talk (2 min): "What 'lines' do people draw today to decide who counts as a neighbour?" Collect two or three answers on the board.
Say: "Now let's walk down the road with the three travellers."
The Road and the Three Travellers (10 min)
Jesus begins: a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him, wounded him and left him half dead (v. 30).
Background: the road dropped steeply through rough country and was known as a dangerous route. Use the map if you have one.
The priest and the Levite both saw the man and passed by on the other side. The text gives no reasons. Do not guess their motives; ask the group instead.
Say: "Jesus does not explain why they passed by, which leaves room for us to ask about ourselves."
Background: priests and Levites served in the temple, so Jesus' listeners would have expected better of them.
Then comes a Samaritan. Background: Jews and Samaritans had a long history of hostility (see John 4:9). Jesus chose the person the lawyer would least expect to be the hero.
The Samaritan's mercy was practical (bandages, oil, wine, transport), personal (his own beast), and costly (two pence, with a promise of more). Background: two pence was roughly two days' wages.
Say: "Compassion in this story is not a feeling alone; it is a decision to be interrupted and to pay a price."
Say: "Let's talk about what this means for us."
Discussion: Walking the Road Ourselves (12 min)
Form groups of three or four. Give each group about 8 minutes, then take 4 minutes to hear key thoughts from each group. Encourage honesty over polished answers.
1. In verse 36, Jesus turns the lawyer's question around: not "Who is my neighbour?" but "Which was neighbour?" Why does that change matter? (It moves the focus from who qualifies for my help to what kind of person I am becoming.)
2. What are some honest reasons people pass by today? (Busyness, fear, assuming someone else will help, not wanting to get involved, not knowing what to do.)
3. Who is a "Samaritan" to you, someone you would find it hard to receive help from or give help to? (Answers vary. Look for honest reflection, not correct answers.)
4. The Samaritan did what he could and then trusted the innkeeper with the rest. What does this teach us about sharing the work of mercy? (We do not have to do everything alone; we can partner with others and with the church.)
5. Look at verse 37. The lawyer could not even say "the Samaritan"; he said "He that shewed mercy." What does that tell us? (Mercy, not identity, was what Jesus highlighted.)
Say: "Let's bring the groups back together and hear what stood out."
The Merciful One and Our Response (6 min)
Jesus' answer to the lawyer was "Go, and do thou likewise" (v. 37). That is a real command, and it shows how far short we fall of loving perfectly.
Say: "If we honestly measure ourselves by this story, we all find that we have passed by someone."
Tradition says many early Christian teachers saw in the Samaritan a picture of Christ himself, who came to us when we were helpless and bore the cost for us. The text does not say this, so hold it gently. But the gospel does tell us that Christ shows mercy to those who cannot help themselves (see Romans 5:8).
Say: "We do not show mercy to earn God's love; we show mercy because we have received it."
Personal reflection (3 min): give each person an index card. Ask them to write:
• One person or situation where I have been passing by.
• One specific, small action I will take this week.
Tell them they do not need to share the card. Encourage them to keep it somewhere visible.
Say: "Let's close by bringing these things to God."
Closing and Prayer (7 min)
Repeat the memory verse together twice: "And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise" (Luke 10:37).
Say: "Take this verse with you as your instruction for the week."
Invite anyone who wishes to share their planned action with a partner, and to exchange a promise to check in during the week.
Prayer points (lead the group, or invite short sentence prayers after each point):
• Thank God for the mercy he has shown us in Christ.
• Ask forgiveness for the times we have passed by on the other side.
• Ask for eyes to see needs around us and for compassion that moves us to act.
• Pray for courage to help people who are different from us.
• Pray for wisdom to work with others and with the church in caring for those in need.
Close by praying together that each person will go and do likewise.
Say: "Go in peace, and watch for the person God puts in your path this week."
Materials
- KJV Bibles (one per person or pair)
- Index cards or note paper
- Pens or pencils
- Whiteboard or large paper and markers
- Simple map of Jerusalem to Jericho
Teacher notes
- Read the passage several times before class. Keep background details short and labelled, and let the text carry the lesson.
- The lawyer's motive may stir strong reactions about who counts as a neighbour. Keep discussion gracious and avoid political debates.
- Adaptation: offer large-print copies, let people write answers instead of speaking, and pair quieter members with a friendly partner. Mixed-age groups can pair older and younger adults.
- Be sensitive to those who may be in need themselves. Be ready to connect people with the church's care ministry after class.
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