July 15, 2007

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Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Read Luke 10:25-37 – The Good Samaritan

Read also Amos 7:7-15; Colossians 1:1-14 and Psalm 82 

.    Who is my neighbor?   .

We all know the story.

A man, a Jewish man,

that’s all we know about him,

was on his way from riverside Jericho

along the lonely dusty road

to old Jerusalem,

a road beset by hazards,

like sand and rocks

and wild beasts and marauding bandits.

It was the latter that almost did him in,

robbing him, wounding him,

leaving him to die in the parching sun.

But then a man,

a man of the wrong ethnic mix,

came by and saw him.

Where others had passed him by,

this man of no pedigree

had compassion on the man,

and tended his wounds

and put him up at the nearest inn,

and paid his bill.

True, he was not of the right blood,

but of the right heart.

I wonder what would happen today.

Well, for one thing, the Samaritan

probably would never have seen

the man who fell among thieves.

There would have been a wall!

But an Israeli helicopter

might have spotted him,

and either thinking it a terrorist plot,

finished him off with a brief burst of fire,

or reported it to their superiors,

who would have issued an order

to destroy the suspected homes

of the “suspected perpetrators.”

All in the name of “security.”

Somehow,

I much prefer Jesus’ version

in answer to the question,
“Who is my neighbor?”
                                                                                    --- rvc

*** D I S C L A I M E R ***

The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a formal commentary.  Rather, they are the personal reflections and original compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment.  As you read them, let your own imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.  The Gospel Lessons reflected on this site may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise manipulated elsewhere on the internet without the expressed consent of the author.

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