The Good Samaritan

Hello everyone.  As many of you know I write a blog called the Opinion of the Minion.  Recently through Facebook, a young man asked Jesus to live in his heart.  After that he asked me where he could find stories about the bible and how he could learn more about Jesus.  I thought I would take a few minutes and put a bible story in modern terms so kids could read and learn about Jesus.  When I was seeking the Lord about what my first story should be, this one came to mind.  So here's my interpretation of the story of the Good Samaritan.

OK, this guy walks up to Jesus and he wants to know how he can get in the family of God.  He wants to know how to get to heaven and Jesus asks him what the bible says he must do.  This dude has studies a little so he answers Jesus and says, the bible tells me to love the Lord with all my heart, mind, body and strength and that I need to love my neighbor as myself.  Jesus says, "You got it right.  That's what the bible says.  If you do this, you will make it to Heaven."  Since this dude is feeling pretty good because he got the right answer, he decides to take it a step further and says, "Who counts as my neighbor?"  And Jesus tells him this story.

Once upon a time there was a real poor guy walking through a pretty rough part of town.  He was minding his own business strolling down the street listening to an iPod he just won in a contest.  It was the only thing about him that seemed worth much.  His clothes were ragged and had holes in them.  He was wearing old worn out Nike shoes and it looked like he hadn't taken a bath in a week.  This guy was only a teenager.  When all of the sudden, out of no where these guys come up to him and jump him.  He doesn't know any MMA (mixed martial arts) so he gets his butt whipped.  These attackers beat him to a pulp and leave him for dead in the street.  They take his iPod and his Nikes and run off.  Pretty mean dudes right?

Well, the story gets a little stranger.  About five miles from where this happens, there is a big church.  Now the pastor of this church is really into growing his church.  He is trying to get everyone to come to his church and it's getting pretty big.  He really begins to think he is something special.  At that same time, he decides to walk through the same neighborhood trying to get a lot more people to come to his church.  As he is walking up the street, he sees the guy who got beat up lying in his own blood on the other side of the street but decides that he has more important things to do than help the guy so he keeps walking.

Then another guy who is running for mayor of the town is walking the same neighborhood talking to people about what a good guy he is and asking for their votes.  As he is walking the other side of the street and shaking hands with people who can help him get elected, he sees this same dude over there crying out for help but since it doesn't look like the guy can help him, he keeps walking and ignores him.

Then this other guy comes walking up.  No one really thinks he is important and because he doesn't have an important job, drive an expensive car or live in a big house, nobody pays him too much attention.  The preacher and the politician don't notice this guy either because he doesn't really fit the picture of what they are looking for.  He is just an ordinary guy that has worked hard all his life.  His clothes are clean but average but since he is from the wrong side of the tracks, everyone looks down at him.  This guy sees the hurt dude and walks over to help him.  He gets the first aid pack from his car and patches the guy up pretty good.  Then he gives him something to drink and puts this dirty, beat up, bleeding, smelly kid in his car and takes him to a hotel.  He pays for the guys room and tells the hotel staff to take care of him while he goes to take care of some personal business.  As he is leaving, he leaves a credit card with the front desk to take care of anything that the beat up guy needs.

Then Jesus asked the guy in front of him which of the three dudes in the story acted like a good neighbor.  This bible expert says that it is the third guy and Jesus tells him that he is right.  Jesus then tells him to do the same thing.

So the point of this story is that we can show the Lord how much we love him by loving our neighbors.  Our neighbors are anyone who is in need regardless of whether they can ever return the favor we do for them.