One day a teacher of an adult Bible class got up and tested him with this question: "Doctor, what does one do to be saved?"
Jesus replied, "What does the Bible say? How do you interpret it?"
The teacher answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your physical strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself."
"That is correct," answered Jesus. "Make a habit of this and you'll be saved."
But the Sunday school teacher, trying to save face, asked, "But...er...but...just who is my neighbor?"
Then Jesus laid into him and said, "A man was going from Atlanta to Albany and some gangsters held him up. When they had robbed him of his wallet and brand-new suit, they beat him up and drove off in his car, leaving him unconscious on the shoulder of the highway.
"Now it just so happened that a white preacher was going down that same highway. When he saw the fellow, he stepped on the gas and went scooting by.
"Shortly afterwards a white Gospel song leader came down the road, and when he saw what had happened, he too stepped on the gas.
"Then a black man traveling that way came upon the fellow, and what he saw moved him to tears. He stopped and bound up his wounds as best he could, drew some water from his water-jug to wipe away the blood and then laid him on the back seat. He drove on into Albany and took him to the hospital and said to the nurse, 'You all take good care of this white man I found on the highway. Here's the only two dollars I got, but you all keep account of what he owes, and if he can't pay it, I'll settle up with you when I make a pay-day.'
"Now if you had been the man held up by gangsters, which of these three--the white preacher, the white song leader, or the black man--would you consider to have been your neighbor?"
The teacher of the adult Bible class said, "Why, of course, the nig--I mean, er...well, er...the one who treated me kindly."
Jesus said, "Well, then you get going and start living like that!"
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This parable was taken from The Cotton Patch Version of Luke, which is written by Clarence Jordan. He holds a B.S. degree in agriculture from the University of Georgia, a Th.M. degree, and a Ph.D. in New Testament Greek from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His translation of Luke was published in 1969. Maybe I will update the language and context in the near future (if anyone is interested in that).
The white preacher's thoughts: "His homiletical mind probably made the following outline:
1. I do not know the man.
2. I do not wish to get involved in any court proceedings.
3. I don't want to get blood on my new upholstering.
4. The man's lack of proper clothing would embarrass me upon my arrival in town.
5. And finally, brethren, a minister must never be late for worship services."
The white song leader: "What his thoughts were we'll never know, but as he whizzed past, he may have been whistling, 'Brighten the corner, where you are.'"
The black man: "All the while his thoughts may have been along this line: 'Somebody's robbed you; yeah, I know about that, I been robbed, too. And they done beat you up bad; yeah, I been beat up, too. And everybody just go right on by and leave you laying here hurting. Yeah, I know. They pass me by, too.'"
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