Welcome Valley Media                                                                                                                                                                       Easy English

Stories Jesus Told

The Neighbor

One day Jesus said people need to have love for their neighbors. He said we need to have love for our neighbors like we have for ourselves. The people who heard him had knowledge that his words were true. God’s law said the same thing.

One man did not like what Jesus said that day. He was a lawyer. He was able to make an argument. He said, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus answered the lawyer’s question with a story. This is that story.

A man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho. This was a journey of about 40 kilometers. The man walked by himself.

A group of bad men made an attack on the man. They beat him badly. They took his money. The bad men ran away.

The man was flat on the ground. He was badly hurt. He was almost dead. He needed help.

Another man walked along the road. This man was a priest. Priests were religious leaders. They were good people. Priests had knowledge about God’s law. He had knowledge that he needed to have love for his neighbors.

The priest went to the other side of the road. He walked away. He did not hurt the man. He did not help the man. The man was still by the road. He was still badly hurt. He still needed a neighbor to help him.

The next person who walked along the road was also a religious worker. Religious workers had knowledge about love for neighbors.

The religious worker also went to the other side of the road. He walked away. He did not hurt the man. He did not help the man. The man was still by the road. He still needed help very much.

The next person who came was from Samaria. No one called people from Samaria neighbors. People from Samaria did not worship in the right way. People from Samaria were mixed race people. The people of that country would not even talk to people from Samaria. No one had desire for a neighbor from Samaria.

The man from Samaria did not go to the other side of the road. He stopped his horse. He went to the wounded man. He put oil and wine on his wounds. Oil and wine were used for medicine in those days. He covered the wounds. The man from Samaria put the wounded man on his own horse. He took the wounded man to a hotel. The man from Samaria cared for the wounded man at the hotel.

The next day, the man from Samaria needed to go home. He gave money to the hotelkeeper. He said for the hotelkeeper to care for the wounded man. The man from Samaria said, “If this is not enough money, I will give you more when I come again.”

Jesus gave a question at the end of the story. He said, “Who was a neighbor to the man the bad men wounded?”

The lawyer said, “The one who helped him.”

Jesus said, “You go and do the same thing.”

You can copy this story. You can share this story. It is not copyrighted.

Easy English Home     The Story in Easy English     Stories Jesus Told     Discovering the Son of God     Stories from the Book Itself

Other Easy English Stories     Welcome Valley Home     About     Contact     Copyright Information     Jesus and You