Luke 10:25-42

Cotton Patch

Back in 1970 Clarence Jordan came out with a book called The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John. In this book Mr Jordan took the gospels and updated them in the context of the racially charged south of the Jim Crow era. His choice of characters was often provocative.

There is perhaps no parable Jesus told with a more provocative cast than the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Allow me to borrow a page from Mr Jordan’s muse and bring this parable into the 21st century.

There was a man visiting Washington D.C. And while he was on the mall walking from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial he was mugged. All of his money was stolen and he was left for dead.

Along came a famous television evangelist who was in town to visit his congressman to lobby him about abortion. When he saw the man lying there and realized that there were no cameras around to capture a good deed on film he realized that he must hurry to keep his congressional appointment and hurried by.

Next came a radio personality who was in town to protest the new health care laws. He saw the man but realized that he was probably uninsured and how would that look if he took a charity case to the hospital, and besides the fellow kind of looked like an immigrant (probably illegal) and decided it would be best to move on.

Finally a single mom hooker on welfare came by. When she saw the man she had compassion on him. She called 911 and stayed with him until help arrived. She then went to the ER to be sure he got attended to and came by the hospital the next day to visit.

Which of these three were a neighbor to the man who was mugged? Provoked yet?