Parable of the Good [insert your worst enemy here]
based on Luke
10:25-37 (New Revised Standard Version)
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Rabbi, what must I do to
inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said, “What does the law say?”
The lawyer answered, “You shall 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 you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus said, “Right answer! Do this, and you will live.”
But wanting further justification, the lawyer asked Jesus, “And who is
my neighbor?”
Jesus responded, “A young person of color was walking along in a gated
community, when he was shot dead by a light-skinned resident who was active in
the neighborhood watch program. The local police were told the shooting was in
self-defense and did not arrest the resident. A white Presbyterian read about
the incident on the internet, turned it into a joke about white-hooded people
caught with crosses of fire and black-hooded people caught in the cross fire,
and forwarded the joke to a bunch of white friends. But [insert your worst
enemy here], who saw the injustice of the situation, was moved with pity, spoke
out against racism that persists in all fifty states of the USA, wrote letters
to local and national officials demanding tougher gun laws and reformed
property laws, joined the NAACP, and invited you and neighbors of all races to
a potluck meal to get to know one another. It wasn’t a quick fix but it was a
start. Which of these people would you like to have as your neighbor?”
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