Chaplain's Chat 

Something God wants us to do, is to do good and show kindness. I am sure that in the recent weeks while many people have been impacted by floods in our area, you have seen people doing good and showing kindness. Maybe you and your family have shown kindness to others. Maybe others have shown kindness to. Showing kindness and doing good is something that God wants us to do.

Jesus once told a story to give an example of what kindness might look like. We know this story as The Good Samaritan.

This Bible reading is one that our Year 5 students will be thinking more about this term. It is a story that Jesus told. Jesus isn’t giving a recount of things that happened, but is telling a made up story to teach people an important message. We call this a parable. A parable is an ‘earthly story with a heavenly message’. The heavenly message that Jesus wants us to see through this parable is about what it looks like to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ and more importantly who is ‘your neighbour’.

In this parable, Jesus shows us what true compassion is like - Compassion is putting another person’s needs before your own, regardless of the cost. Jesus wants us to care about people in need and then do what we can to help them, even if it is costly for us. The man in the story did this for the one who had been beaten and robbed. He stopped what he was doing, he put aside his own needs and desires to help. He cared for his immediate needs and then went out of his way to make sure he would be OK. He took him to someone else who could provide further care and paid a financial cost for this. 

Not only does Jesus want us to know what true compassion looks like, he wants us to know who we should be showing compassion to. In the parable that Jesus told, he carefully chooses his characters to make the point that our ‘neighbours’ are not necessarily people like us. Jesus wants us to show kindness to all people regardless of who they are. Even if they are different to you. Different nationality or language or skin colour, different beliefs or religion, different clothes or interests or preferences. In fact, the person Jesus chose to be the one showing kindness was from a cultural group who were unliked and despised by the Jewish people.

I am thankful to be part of a community that shows kindness to others. Showing kindness is a GOOD thing. Showing kindness that comes at a personal cost and is directed toward a stranger or even someone who has no regard at all for you, well… that is a GOD thing!

Stuart Martin

School Chaplain