Preaching on the Parable of the Good Samaritan (again) and I dug out this dialogue I wrote for the Connexions on a Journey Event at the 2004 Methodist Church in Ireland Conference in Dublin. It was actually a partner piece to the "Companions on a Journey" poem I posted earlier.
Voice 1: A lesson on the road…
Voice 2: A dangerous road…
Voice 1: A difficult lesson…
Voice 2: One which we haven’t learned 2000 years later…
Voice 1: What must we do to inherit eternal life…
Voice 2: That’s easy “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, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Voice 1: Correct! Eternal life to the smart alec on my right!
Voice 2: But who is my neighbour?
Voice 1: That’s typical of the breakdown in a sense of community in the world today… Imagine not knowing your own neighbour…
Voice 2: No seriously… Who do I have to love?
Voice 1: Who do you have to love? That’s different… Jesus told a story about that… About a man who was walking a dangerous road…
Voice 2: From Jerusalem to Jericho?
Voice 1: You’ve got it…
Voice 2: And he was mugged…
Voice 1: And robbed…
Voice 2: And left for dead…
Voice 1: They didn’t even leave him his mobile phone so he could phone for help…
Voice 2: Did they have mobile phones in those days?
Voice 1: Never mind… Anyway, along came a priest…
Voice 2: And did he help?
Voice 1: No… He walked by on the other side…
Voice 2: Never did trust those priests…
Voice 1: Then along came an elder…
Voice 2: And did he help?
Voice 1: No… He walked by on the other side…
Voice 2: Well, he was probably in a hurry… and it was a dangerous road to stop on…
Voice 1: And along came a Samaritan…
Voice 2: Ah wasn’t that lucky…
Voice 1: What?
Voice 2: Having a good Samaritan come by just in the nick of time…
Voice 1: I didn’t say anything about a good Samaritan…
Voice 2: Didn’t you?
Voice 1: You might as well say “a good drug addict” or “a good terrorist” or “a good paedophile” or “a good bogus asylum seeker…”
Voice 2: But none of them would be as catchy…
Voice 1: No-one who was listening to Jesus would have thought you could have a good Samaritan…
Voice 2: The only good Samaritan is a dead Samaritan…
Voice 1: Again, you’ve got it! But Jesus didn’t. The hero of his story was a Samaritan. It was the Samaritan who helped the man by the road.
Voice 2: So that is the answer to my question?
Voice 1: What question?
Voice 2: Who is my neighbour? Who do I have to love?
Voice 1: Yes…
Voice 2: Samaritan’s!? But I don’t know any Samaritans! There are none who live round our way…
Voice 1: No… Do what the Samaritan did… He loved the person he met on his journey… Not with a love which cost a sympathetic nod, a tearful eye and a hastily offered prayer… But a costly love… A dangerous love… A healing love…
Voice 2: I see…
Voice 1: I mean… If a Samaritan could understand that, then anybody could…
Voice 2: A dangerous road…
Voice 1: A difficult lesson…
Voice 2: One which we haven’t learned 2000 years later…
Voice 1: What must we do to inherit eternal life…
Voice 2: That’s easy “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, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Voice 1: Correct! Eternal life to the smart alec on my right!
Voice 2: But who is my neighbour?
Voice 1: That’s typical of the breakdown in a sense of community in the world today… Imagine not knowing your own neighbour…
Voice 2: No seriously… Who do I have to love?
Voice 1: Who do you have to love? That’s different… Jesus told a story about that… About a man who was walking a dangerous road…
Voice 2: From Jerusalem to Jericho?
Voice 1: You’ve got it…
Voice 2: And he was mugged…
Voice 1: And robbed…
Voice 2: And left for dead…
Voice 1: They didn’t even leave him his mobile phone so he could phone for help…
Voice 2: Did they have mobile phones in those days?
Voice 1: Never mind… Anyway, along came a priest…
Voice 2: And did he help?
Voice 1: No… He walked by on the other side…
Voice 2: Never did trust those priests…
Voice 1: Then along came an elder…
Voice 2: And did he help?
Voice 1: No… He walked by on the other side…
Voice 2: Well, he was probably in a hurry… and it was a dangerous road to stop on…
Voice 1: And along came a Samaritan…
Voice 2: Ah wasn’t that lucky…
Voice 1: What?
Voice 2: Having a good Samaritan come by just in the nick of time…
Voice 1: I didn’t say anything about a good Samaritan…
Voice 2: Didn’t you?
Voice 1: You might as well say “a good drug addict” or “a good terrorist” or “a good paedophile” or “a good bogus asylum seeker…”
Voice 2: But none of them would be as catchy…
Voice 1: No-one who was listening to Jesus would have thought you could have a good Samaritan…
Voice 2: The only good Samaritan is a dead Samaritan…
Voice 1: Again, you’ve got it! But Jesus didn’t. The hero of his story was a Samaritan. It was the Samaritan who helped the man by the road.
Voice 2: So that is the answer to my question?
Voice 1: What question?
Voice 2: Who is my neighbour? Who do I have to love?
Voice 1: Yes…
Voice 2: Samaritan’s!? But I don’t know any Samaritans! There are none who live round our way…
Voice 1: No… Do what the Samaritan did… He loved the person he met on his journey… Not with a love which cost a sympathetic nod, a tearful eye and a hastily offered prayer… But a costly love… A dangerous love… A healing love…
Voice 2: I see…
Voice 1: I mean… If a Samaritan could understand that, then anybody could…
(© David Campton 2004)
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