Good morning, good morning! Welcome to Sunday Griot! Here in thiis part of the world many of us celebrate Easter Sunday today, so I thought it might be appropriate to do one of the stories of Yeshua bin Yusuf, the Master Teacher. So I thought I would do the story of The Good Samaritan.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?"
And he answered and said, "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 your neighbor as yourself."
And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; Do this and you will live."
But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
There was a man driving from Baltimore to Washington, and as he was driving along down the road one of his tires blew out. So he stopped the car, got out, opened the trunk, and was rummaging around for the jack when another car pulled up behind his and two men got out. He approached the two men, thinking they were there to help him change the tire, but instead they beat him, took his coat, wallet and watch, ransacked his car, and left him there for dead.
A few minutes later a TV preacher driving a Lexus approached the site of the mugging, but instead of stopping to help, he drove on by. "I'm already late," he might have been thinking. "I have to record that sermon on helping the poor."
Again, not long after that, a congressman in a BMW came down the road, and he too drove by. He was probably thinking about an omnibus crime bill that was coming up for a vote.
But then, after the congressman's car had pulled out of view, a pickup truck stopped behind the mugging victim and a man got out. He was a tall man, with a set of impressive muscles and a crew cut.
And a swastika tattoo atop one of those muscles.
And a picture of Adolf Hitler on his dashboard.
The man went over to the mugging victim, took his pulse, and then returned to the car to dial 911 for help. When the ambulance arrived he followed it to the hospital, gave the ambulance driver his card with an address to send the bill to, and then had the man admitted to the hospital.
"Whatever it costs to treat this man," he said, showing an ID, a business card and an American Express gold card, "I will pay it." And then he went on his way.
"Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"
And he said, "the one who showed mercy toward him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."