The Parable of the Good Samaritan

 

Larry loved football and had been a City fan all his life. He never missed a match, home or away, knew every song and chant and had even painted his bedroom in the club’s colours; green and white. City were a good team and usually won their matches. However, this day’s match was against their fiercest rivals, Rovers. City and Rovers had a long history of a bitter rivalry. Larry struggled to sleep the night before these matches, he wasn’t sure if it was nerves or excitement. These were the best games of the season with a lot at stake, any points taken against their rivals would be important in deciding who was going to win the league.

 

Today’s match was everything Larry had hoped it would be. He arrived in the ground in plenty of time to hear his favourite song being sung, holding his scarf above his head and joining in with every word. It was exciting, with excellent play from City making Rovers look weak. Every pass was calculated and precise, the City goalkeeper didn’t have much work to do but their strikers were kept busy. Final score: City 4 – 0 Rovers. Larry was delighted.

 

Larry was on his way home from the match, when all of a sudden, he was attacked by robbers. They took his jacket, his watch, his phone and his wallet. Then they beat him, leaving him half dead. Larry was lying there, bloody, bruised, with broken bones, slipping in and out of consciousness.

 

The manager of City happened to be going down the same road in his car, when he saw Larry. He saw the mess

of him, covered in blood and in pain, but he passed by. He decided he was too important to stop for Larry. He was going for dinner at an exclusive restaurant with his friends, and he didn’t want to be late so passed by on the other side, pretending to see nothing.

 

The goalkeeper of City came to the place in his car and saw Larry lying there. He thought about stopping, but realised that as Larry had been robbed, he would be putting himself in danger, “What if the robbers were still in the area? They might attack me too!” he thought to himself. The goalkeeper decided to get out of there as soon as possible, leaving poor Larry in a great deal of pain, alone and in great danger.

 

However, a Rovers fan, as he travelled on his motorbike, came to where Larry was and was horrified by what he saw. He quickly got off his bike and went to him. He gently cleaned and cared for Larry’s wounds and then put him on the back of his bike and took him to a nearby hotel to look after him. The next day he took out £100 and gave it to the manager of the hotel. “Look after him”, he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”