The New Samaritan

"A man on his way from Atlanta to Greenville was robbed and severely beaten at a rest area. The thieves even stole his clothes and left him for dead lying on the sidewalk and drove off in his car.

As it happened, a fundamentalist pastor happened by that way and saw the man but he thought there was a good chance the man was dead anyway and the pastor was on his way to go soulwinning so he really couldn’t spare the time. Instead, he carefully stepped around the guy making sure not to get his wingtip shoes bloody and hurried away — muttering about how if conservatives were in charge of the government this sort of crime wouldn’t happen nearly so much.

A few moments later, a fundamentalist deacon passed by the same way but he observed that the man was immodestly clad and wondered how it might affect a Baptist deacon’s testimony if someone saw him near the wounded man and assumed it was the appearance of evil. So he too carefully stepped around the wounded man, hiking up his khaki pant legs to avoid the gore and went on his way.

But then along came an atheist, lesbian Democrat who taught Women’s Studies at the local community college and drove a Prius. And she saw the man and took pity on his plight. She called him an ambulance and sat with the wounded man and held his bruised hand until the paramedics came. Then she followed him to the hospital and handed them her Visa card and said “Whatever he owes on his bills you can charge it to me. And if he needs anything here is my cell phone number just give me a call.”

Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?

Go and do likewise."

From: http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2011/05/good-neighbors-a-fundamentalist-parable/

Here's why this is so good: To understand the importance of Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan, you have to understand the attitude Jews had towards Samaritans - they hated them. Samaritans claimed to practice true Judaism, not the altered version that they say emerged after the Babylonian exile. Samaritans even had their own temple on Mount Gerizim. (for more see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan#The_Tension_between_the_Samaritan_and_the_Jews)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

10:25 Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 10:27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 10:28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

10:29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 10:30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. 10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. 10:32 So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 10:33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. 10:34 He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 10:35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ 10:36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 10:37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

Needless to say, this challenged the established religious authority in Israel - the socio-political and economic order. In American society, a society so religiously arrogant that it sees itself as the moral authority, who is the Samaritan? Who do the religious authority view as socio-political and economic enemies? I think "an atheist, lesbian Democrat who [teaches] Women’s Studies at the local community college and [drives] a Prius," fits the bill.

What's the point? The point is Christians are called to love, to be a neighbor and to the credit of all my atheist, LGBT, Democrat friends, the "Samaritans" are doing it better.