Now he had to go through Samaria. – John 4:4

Today's Scripture Reading (October 28, 2020): John 4

A Parable: Once upon a time, there was a Republican, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. One day this Republican was traveling from New York to Washington, wearing his red MAGA hat and bearing witness to the President with his "I Love Donald Trump" bumper sticker when he fell into the midst of a local gang. Seeing him, the gang beat him up, took everything that he had, except his MAGA hat, and left him by the side of a seldom-used country road.

Now it just happened that a Republican Congressman passed by and saw the man lying there. But there were votes that he was needed for back in Washington, and surely there would be other people that would come and help the man, so he drove right by the injured man lying at the side of the road. After the congressman, there was a Republican Senator that was passing by the wounded man. But he too had to get to Washington, and surely there would be someone else who was better equipped than him that could help a hurting man at the side of the road.

And then a Democratic strategist passed by the hurting man. He, too, had important meetings in Washington, but when he saw the man, his MAGA hat torn and dirty with mud, he had compassion on him. He got down into the soil and gathered the man into his arms, struggling to carry him to the back seat of his car. As he got back into the driver's seat, the Democrat noticed that his shirt, once white and ready for the business in Washington, was now torn and bloodied by the man. As he looked into the back seat, he noticed that the man, now unconscious, was lying on a crucial campaign report, which had now been rendered unusable.

The Democrat took this Republican traveler to the nearest hospital, where he booked him into a private room. He placed the dirty MAGA hat in a place of honor beside the hospital bed. Because the man was unconscious and had nothing to identify him, the Democrat left his platinum American Express card to cover any expenses incurred. And then, finally made his way to Washington. So, which man was the injured man neighbor? Or, maybe, which man exhibited Christian compassion   

Sometimes I think we miss the scandal of the story of the Good Samaritan. My rendition of the parable doesn't come close to recognizing the scandal of the tale that would have been heard by the story's original listeners. Samaritans were hated. They were the descendants of poor, miseducated Jews who had been left behind in Judah during the Babylonian exile. Understand this; the Samaritans were so useless that even the Babylonians wanted nothing to do with them. The Babylonians had left them behind so that they wouldn't devalue Babylonian neighborhoods. And Samaritans returned the favor by hating the self-important Jews.

John says that Jesus went to Galilee and that he had to (or maybe better, "needed to") go through Samaria. But what we need to understand is that nobody needed to go through Samaria. Good Jews bypassed Samaria. They went around. Yes, it was a little longer, but the journey was so much better because you didn't have to put up with Samaritans.

Jesus didn't have to go to Samaria because it was the only way to get to Galilee. He could have joined the crowd of Jews, making the journey by going around the area. Jesus had to go to Samaria because he had a message that the Samaritans needed to hear. And that was almost as scandalous and ludicrous as the story of the Good Samaritan.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 5