Andy, the Samaritan, and the Messiah

The Story:

Once upon a time, there was a runaway slave who is running through the woods to complete his escape plan. He approaches a lion that stops him in his tracks, for this beast is injured. If not for a large thorn, the lion would be freely roaming the woods as he usually does on a normal day. Unfortunately, the thorn is the reason he is down for the count, a victim of the thorn whose sharp, pointy edge has debilitated the king of the forest and paralyzed him from striking fear in his prey. Though it does not explicitly say, it is likely the injury from the thorn has simultaneously hurt the lion and allowed the slave to flee from his owner unharmed.

But something interesting happens. The runaway slave, whose name is Androcles, like most adventure movies, sees his exit, the hurting lion, then his exit, and quickly weighs the pros and cons in his head. This is also probably the point where, if this story were a show airing on FOX, it would shoot to a commercial, causing the entire room of viewers to wait impatiently for the decision the protagonist (or antagonist) will make.

Instead of making his in and out of the woods unharmed - after all, what good is a lion if his paw is bloodied from a sharp thorn? - the slave stoops down to aid the lion by pulling the thorn out of his paw and nursing him back to health. The lion, out of a show of gratitude, takes the slave to his cave, provides him with meat he collects from the forest, and essentially keeps him safe from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, their freedom comes to and end shortly after, because both are found by the emperor of Rome and separated for some time before being taken into the arena to be seen as a public spectacle in a gladiator fight.

When the time comes for slave and lion to perform in this dual, the ravenous lion is let out of the cage to face the man and bounds with great speed in an effort to make the slave his food.

Right before pouncing, the lion recognizes the man and instead of eating him whole, he stops and begins licking him as a sign of friendship and affection. The emperor is so thrown off by this display of love, loyalty, and devotion, he pardons both the slave and the lion and thus declaring them officially free. No longer is the slave considered "runaway" free but free "by law," so he no longer has to live in fear of being caught again.

Kindness is the Theme of Life:

I love using this story to teach the components of literature to my students because, at fifth grade, students are ruthlessly rude and disrespectful to one another, break hearts in the name of "self-defense", speak sarcastically to one another, and develop proficiency at navigating - and hiding behind - the digital codes of social media. They become bullies in their own right. If you want evidence, eavesdrop into a conversation and you'll quickly find out how unforgiving the battleground of an adolescent can be -- and it's not just what they speak with their mouths, it's also what they don't say and their lack of manners that can often be appalling to anyone who knows anything about common courtesy. 

With this short story, I can teach elements of fictional literature and model how we should treat each other all in one lesson. Androcles and the Lion is Aesop's gift to all teachers. Androcles & the Lion demonstrates, in a slightly exaggerated way, the good that can come from being a Good Samaritan even when no one asked you, or paid you, to play that role. 

Some would call it Karma, some would call it God protecting those choose to be like Jesus, and some might label it "being the good the world needs." Regardless of what my takeaways from this story are, it's an easy one to teach my 5th graders because kindness is powerful no matter what religion you believe, time period you live in, or society you are part of, kindness does a whole lot of good for any community. Personally, I feel kids at this age get lost navigating through what they want versus what they experience the world giving them on a daily basis. They desperately crave to fit in, be liked, and feel understood. If they don't, they resort to versions of themselves they would never want to be friends with if they saw themselves behaving the way they do. Kids at this age, and maybe you and I from time to time, need a little bit of Andy and The Lion to teach us a few lessons or two about kindness.

 Everything to Gain, Everything to Lose 

As a teacher educating 10-year-olds on the theme of this story, I always hear the tip-of-the-iceberg or Mariana Trench responses to "What is Aesop's moral of this story?" Tip-of-the-iceberg is the simple reply: "Kill them with kindness!" or "Kindness is cool." 

I want to go deeper than that. Mariana Trench deep.

In other words, what is the cost of kindness? What does "even when it's hard" look like?

Students are smart to add, "Even when it's hard," because there is plenty of text evidence to connect to the claim. We call that "Supporting Details." But where is the evidence in their own life when kindness is difficult? Most kids can tell you how to be kind, define kind, and wear Old Navy shirts with "Choose Kindness" embroidered across the front of it. We're good at preaching kindness, but what do we do when an injured lion steps in front of your agenda?

Think about it like this: the moment the Lion strikes the thorn, the roles are reversed. The slave has power because of the freedom he experiences while on the run - no one to depend on anymore. The Lion is now dependent on the removal of the thorn to regain his reputation as king of the jungle. In a world where everyone and everything operates under their identity, the slave is weak and the lion is strong. Additionally, if this lion really is the King of the jungle, a pesky thorn should have nothing on him. This thorn is a mere dust mite compared to the lion's sheer strength and will power. Right? Not only does the lion represent an obstacle standing between the slave and his freedom, he's also dealing with an animal that could destroy you from limb to limb because he has a big appetite. I don't know if you've heard, but it is quite difficult to reason with a hungry lion. They typically don't see a human to befriend, but meat to devour and consume. Once the thorn is gone, so is Androcles. Gone to be with the inside of the the lion's stomach. 

When Androcles experiences a moment of hesitation, if there is one, upon hearing the cries of the injured lion, he has everything to gain upon ignoring those cries. On the flipside, he has everything to lose if he assists the lion through his predicament: Androcles could get tricked by this beast in the forest and get eaten alive or the slave master could catch up to him and send him back with a severe punishment awaiting him. Best case scenario, it stalls his perfect escape from slave life - he's almost to the finish line where freedom is waiting to join him. Worse case scenario, his one shot at escaping the hands of his master is gone either because he gets eaten alive or the master finds him and returns him from whence he came.

 No one would judge him, scold him, or rip him apart on social media if he decides to ignore the lion. If anything, Androcles would be encouraged to leave the lion alone - after all, he's preserving his own life.  No one would blame, Androcles. To make the decision easier, no one in the forest was witnessing firsthand the dilemma staring him down; there was no Instagram following, no Facebook Live feed for Androcles' friends to view, and no news van parked in the forest so the runaway slave's kindness would go viral. He had no motivating factor to do his deed of the day. He had no agent chirping in his ear telling him to perform an act of kindness so the entire forest would know about in order for it to improve his image as the good guy doing good things. It was the lion, Androcles, and his moral compass guiding him. Despite having everything to lose and a healthy, man-eating lion to gain, Androcles still chose to rescue the hurting lion. 

If you ignore the ending of the story, and even the part where Andy and the lion become besties, there is no logical reason the slave should stop to help. No reason whatsoever. Period.

Let's stick with the Tip-of-the-Iceberg response: Kindness is cool. Is it? In this case, it doesn't sound too cool. Yes, Andy is kind, and that's respectable. If cool means eating raw meat the lion gives you as a gift, getting recaptured, and forced to fight against a ravenous lion in an arena - the same killer lion who you just befriended, then yes, cool. But that wouldn't be a cool life for me. The moment the word "Recaptured" was part of the timeline, I stopped considering pulling a thorn out as an option.

Let's zoom in on Andy's decision making for a minute. In the beginning of the story, Androcles is a runaway slave in a forest where his owner is no where to be seen. What does this mean for the slave? His escape plan worked. Androcles is probably no different than your typical human. He probably reasoned with himself to not show anyone kindness or help anyone in need because that would stall his only shot at freedom. No one would oppose him deciding to do what makes him happy. His slave friends probably said something along the lines of "You do you" or "Let the haters hate." When the slave hears the cries of the lion, all the convincing the devil on Androcles' shoulder did to keep him focused on his escape plan fell to the wayside. He used his freedom to set the lion free. He traded the freedom he had to love the lion unconditionally, even if it cost him any future freedom he would have. He didn't keep his freedom to himself; he shared it by giving the lion a shot at freedom from the thorn.

That's the Mariana Trench response.

What this Means to Us:

In a lot of ways, Androcles should be us on any given day. We are called to a higher standard in how we treat one another, not just when it is most convenient or when all eyes are on us. The fact that Androcles and the Lion takes place in the forest where no other creatures a mentioned is not by accident. Androcles gave up his perfect escape plan because someone needed help - and without a moment's hesitation, he jumped in to save the lion. He risked his own life to save the lion so the lion could get back to doing lion things. Androcles is the Aesop's Fables version of the Good Samaritan.

One of the observations my students undoubtedly make at some point in the conversations we have about this story is how many times the slave could have taken care of his needs and done nothing for the lion. First, he could have kept running through the woods and taken advantage of the lion's thorn misfortune. Second, when the lion brings Androcles to the cave to feed him food as a gift for pulling the thorn out of his paw, he could have said "toodles" after getting his fill. Since he didn't, Androcles was recaptured and sent to the Colosseum to take part in the games against his friend, the lion.

The more you think about this story, the more it makes you wonder what would have happened if Andy didn't stop and assist the lion. Sure, he may have still gotten recaptured and dropped into the arena to face the lion, or maybe not. Maybe Andy would be spotted on some nameless island off the grid, sipping Pina Coladas and munching on the finest fresh sushi. All you can eat too. Regardless of the outcome, Andy sacrificed his freedom so someone else could be free. The slaves freedom from slavery became the lion's freedom from a thorn. Isn't this what we're called to do as well? In a moments notice, we should consider how to step in to assist those who need it, regardless of what it accomplishes for us. It is evident in this short story that not once did Andy consider what saving the lion would do for himself. 

Unfortunately, too often, I do the opposite of Androcles. I calculate the risk of being Jesus to others and wind up talking myself out of kindness. Like Andy and the lion, the Samaritan who assisted the Jewish man in distress was a part of a people group staunchly opposed to Jews. While lions and humans are not known to be enemies of each other, they also are not known to be within the same pride - they are not known to coexist in the wild together, and anyone who advises you to pack your bags to go live with the lions in the grasslands of Africa is an utter fool. 

So, we have a runaway slave who assists a lion without regard for his own future in one of Aesop's fables. We have a Samaritan man going out of his way to help a Jewish man heal in one of the parables told by Jesus. Both of the main characters in each story have no reason to do what they did except because it is the right thing to do. They both did something great for someone else, even if it meant sacrificing their own agenda. 

On the cross, Jesus didn't just do what he did because "Kindness is cool." Andy, the Samaritan, and Jesus all represent a step deeper than kindness: Love. The first two stories are fictional - a fable and a parable. Jesus' story of dying on the cross so we can experience life is real. His loving kindness was not shown out of convenience. It cost him his freedom. He died a brutal death, filled with torture, humiliation, and indescribable pain so that we could live an abundant life. He pulled the thorn out of us and wore a crown of them on his head. That's not just kindness. It's love. 

It's love in the form of sacrifice, and Jesus urges us to use his death an resurrection as an example for how deep our love should be for those around us:

"As the Father has love me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love...My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."

-John 15:13 

Androcles laid his freedom down for the lion so he could be freed. The Good Samaritan aided the Jew in his recovery and sacrificed his time, energy, and finances to help him. Jesus set those captured by sin free by putting those sins on his shoulders and taking them to the cross, where we belonged.

How will you lay your life down for those God placed in your path?

*https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/lions 

**https://www.britannica.com/animal/lion