The Parable Garden
Stand inside the parable and choose. You are placed inside the parable as the one who must choose. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho, a man left half dead, and you with somewhere to be. Nothing is scolded. The story simply continues, honestly, the way your real choices do.
- Players
- Solo
- Kind
- Walk the story
- Built on
- Luke 10:36-37
- Cost
- Free, inside Living Bread
How to play
- Read the opening beat of the parable. The story so far stays on the screen as it grows.
- At each turn, choose from two or three real options: pass by, stop, cross the road, send for help.
- The story continues from your choice, without a lecture, into the consequence that follows.
- Reach an ending and read the verse and the reflection that belong to the road you walked.
- Walk the road again and choose differently. Endings are meant to be compared.
A session, start to finish
Open the garden and the first beat of the road appears: Jerusalem behind you, Jericho ahead, and a man in the ditch. The story waits for you at every fork; there is no timer and no score, only the next honest choice. Most first walks take four minutes. The second walk, the one where you choose what you avoided the first time, is where the parable does its real work, because now you can feel both roads in your hands.
The Scripture it stands on
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Luke 10:36-37, King James Version
What it forms in you
Moral imagination. It trains the moment before a choice, where mercy is decided, and lets you feel the difference between the priest's road and the Samaritan's without being told which you took.
Who it is for
Anyone who has ever hurried past someone, students of the parables, and families who want a story to talk about at the table.
A reflection
Jesus did not answer the lawyer's question about who his neighbour was. He asked which man became a neighbour. Which road did you take, and who was on it?
Questions people ask
Which parables are included?
The Good Samaritan is the first garden, with its full set of forks and endings; more gardens grow over time.
Is there a right answer?
The story does not scold, but it does continue honestly. Some roads end in mercy and some in a man left in the ditch. You will know.
How long is a walk?
Three to five minutes, and it rewards a second walk.
Play it in Living Bread
The Parable Garden lives inside the app with every other game, your progress, and the family to play it with. Open in Living Bread App Store Google Play
