Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Good Immigrant: A Modern Retelling of the Samaritan Parable

There once was a man driving home from work on a rural road somewhere in the USA. While on a stretch of road that was several miles from the nearest house, a stray dog ran in front of his car. Swerving to miss the animal, he lost control of the vehicle and drove into the ditch. The man, slightly injured and bewildered, managed to climb out of the car and with a sense of disorientation tried to figure out what to do. (For the sake of the story, our traveler's cell phone was lost or broken in the crash)
 
By chance a pastor of a local church came driving by on his way to mid-week bible study. Because he was running late for the evenings service, when he saw the crash victim, he continued driving and said a quick prayer for the man to himself. A short time later, a Protestant, evangelical, bible-believing, right-wing, Republican city council member came driving by on his way to a city meeting. Being late for his meeting, he slowed down enough to hand a business card to the injured man for a local tow-truck service, and continued on his way.



 Some time later an immigrant worker of unknown nationality (who some would label as 'illegal'), came along the road after completing a days work at a local farm. Upon seeing the crash victim, the immigrant took pity on him and stopped. He began to perform what little first aid he knew, bandaging the mans wounds with what he had. Using his cell phone, he called the towing service listed on the card that was previously given by the city official. When the truck arrived, the immigrant helped them retrieve the vehicle from the ditch. After paying the truck driver, the immigrant gave what was left of his measly pay check to the injured man, along with his cell phone for the man to use if needed.

Which of these three do you think acted as a neighbor to the man who was in need?

Go and do likewise.