Almost everybody has heard of the Good Samaritan, but has the parable as Jesus told it really saturated modern religion?
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a temple employee, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he decided to do him right. He went to him and propped him up against a rock, tossed him a rag, and said, “You poor guy. Clean yourself up a bit while I have a look around.” Once he was sure the bandits were gone and they were in no danger, he came back to the man, who hadn’t even moved to pick up the rag. Then he explained to him the way of life saying, “Well, if you don’t want to be clean that’s your business. You really should be more careful, though. These roads frequently have bandits, so it doesn’t surprise me at all that you fell into this trap. Tsk tsk tsk. I always use a checklist to make sure I have everything I need with me to be a safe traveler, and I have learned to watch for danger spots, but even that cannot always save you: that’s why you need to be on a diet, exercise, and self-defense program so you can protect yourself. My House of Worship is putting on a seminar in a couple of weeks called, “The Wise Traveler.” It basically teaches you God’s principles for traveling so you won’t wind up needy and ditched like this again—here is a flyer. I’ve got to go, but I don't want to leave you here like this. Here, I have two silver coins with me. I obviously can’t let you have both of them, but you can have this one. I saw an inn about a mile back up the road. I’ll bet he’d let you stay a day or two so you can recover your strength, but I will tell you this: he might not take too kindly to you darkening his door with no clothes on like that—it’s really shameful for you to walk around naked—it seems like there’s no respect for modesty in our culture any more. Now, if it’s ok with you, I’ll call on you to check your progress and see if you have any questions that I can explain further. Alright, God bless you, and...I'll be praying for you.” As the Samaritan walked off, he though to himself, “I don’t know if that guy heard a word I said.”
Now, go back and read the original parable as Jesus told it (Luke 10:25-37). It should either make your furious or make you cry.
------------------------------
Copyright © 2005 by Steve Coan
All rights reserved. Written permissions must be secured from the publisher to reproduce any part of this work, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.
No comments:
Post a Comment