“A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.”

So begins St. Luke’s account of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30), one of Jesus’ best-known parables in the New Testament.

The parable is well known to Christians, but probably not to others. The half dead man is passed by a Jewish cleric who goes to the other side of the road and keeps going. A second Jewish cleric does the same. But then comes the Samaritan who dresses the man’s wounds, takes him to a nearby inn, pays for his stay and tells the inn keeper to look after him and that he will pay him any additional money owed when he returns.

All 50 states of the United States and the District of Columbia have “Good Samaritan” laws. While the particulars may vary from state to state, the gist of the laws is to protect a stranger from providing assistance, even if the assistance goes wrong . I suspect that our current society is considerably more litigious than was the case in the first Century A.D.

There are two keys to the parable. First, the Jewish clerics who pass by even though you would expect a rabbi, a minister or a priest to stop and lend aid. Then there is the Samaritan.

In first Century A.D., when religion was a very serious matter, a Jewish person would have nothing to do with a Gentile but, God forbid, it was much more damming to deal with a Samaritan. The Samaritans lived on adjoining land and claimed Moses as a common ancestor but had mixed him up with pagan gods, intermarried and provided refuge to Jews who had been kicked out what is modern day Israel for perceived sin or crimes. They were the lowest of the low and, yet, it was a Samaritan who showed mercy to the half dead Jewish victim.

So, the point of the parable is that the most reviled person is capable of great mercy while those who should be particularly merciful are not. And remember the Jewish hatred of Samaritans was reciprocated so the Good Samaritan was not expected to be good toward a Jew.

So, fast-forward 21 centuries on the road to Jericho. Suppose the half dead person was Nancy Pelosi or Liz Cheney or Joe Biden or Adam Schiff. The person on the road was Donald Trump. Do you think he would stop or do you think he would say “what a bunch of losers” and then proceed on his way to Jericho?

But let’s reverse this and make Donald Trump the half dead person. Nancy Pelosi or Liz Cheney or Joe Biden or Adam Schiff is the person on the road. Would they give aid or go on to Jericho?

I did a non-scientific study of the answers to those questions. Of the seven people, two were extremely pro-Trump and five were anti-Trump although one of the five was more moderate than the rest.

The adamantly pro-Trump people were convinced that he would render aid or arrange for aid to be provided. They were equally convinced that Pelosi et al. would skedaddle onto Jericho.

The five anti-Trump people were more nuanced. Four of the five thought that Trump would ignore his half dead enemies. Two of those four thought that Pelosi would render aid. Two of those four thought that neither Trump nor Pelosi et al. would lend aid.

The most interesting response of the five was that of my daughter Megan. She thought that Trump would render aid but Pelosi et al. would not. But her reasoning was different. She is no admirer of Trump but thought he would render aid because he would want to take credit for it, maybe to burnish his Nobel prize nomination. When I asked whether he would do it if no one was looking, her answer was equally interesting. Yes because Pelosi would tell the truth and hence Trump‘s claim would be verified. 

It is a sad commentary that we have come to this where different political persuasions cannot believe that certain people will not do the right thing. Our politics have distorted our moral compasses and certain of our politicians have lost their moral compasses. That is not to say that all people are Good Samaritans, far from it. Remember, in the parable, two of the three went on to Jericho. 

Now, what is your answer to the Trump/Pelosi questions? If you care to post a reply, you must tap on the title of the blog and then a button will appear to allow you to reply.

 Equally important is what you would do.

Note to believers: Jesus is watching and can spot a liar a mile away.