Saturday, March 28, 2015

A Parable, Re-Told for 21st Century America

Taken directly from Luke 10:25-37. The only thing I have changed are names and geographic locations:

On one occasion a Christian who had attended church in the United States of America for his entire life stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
 In reply Jesus said: “A man from Indianapolis, Indiana, was flying to Los Angeles for a business trip, and he got lost in the wrong neighborhood. He was attacked by gang members. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A church preacher happened to be going down the same street, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Sunday School teacher, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a homosexual man from San Francisco, who was also in Los Angeles on business, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and called 911 and stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. Then he followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed by his bed throughout the night and took care of him. The next day he went to the hospital billing office, took out a checkbook and wrote the hospital a check, as the man did not have any identification on him, and he had amnesia, and no insurance company could be billed for his stay. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return to Los Angeles next week, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The Christian replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

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