The Unfortunate Victim
What’s happening to me? I was walking along, minding my own business; and now this….abandoned, rejected, left to die. Why don’t these people help me? They’re coming over (Priest & Levite)….now they’re leaving. They were only curious, not really interested or concerned. Death would be better than just lying here in pain, watching people pass me by. Who is this guy (the Samaritan)? Is he going to be like the others and treat me like I don’t exist? He is bending over. He must be up to something. I don’t trust him. He’s helping me! How different life looks!
The Priest
Ah, Yahweh, the Temple! What a glorious weekend it was! I can’t wait to tell my wife and neighbors tonight. Praise you, thank you for choosing me as your priest, unworthy as I am! I felt so humble within the awesome splendor of your temple! And when the high priest, Ol’ Annas, went into the Holy of Holies, Ooh, I almost swooned, for I felt my very soul being drawn within that inner sanctuary, to be one with you!!!!
Oh, oh, what’s that on the roadside? Looks like a body…it is! That’s the third one I’ve seen this year on this road! Poor soul! Curse those thieves, Yahweh, they not only rob a man, but murder him as well! Hmm, maybe I should go over to that ditch and see? No, if that Levite sees me too near that body, he’ll report me. Then I’ll be unable ever again to share in the temple services. I hope that the other stranger coming up the road doesn’t think I am calloused and cowardly. I am a Priest; I am simply following the law. How come then, Yahweh, I don’t feel justified…Hmmm?
The Levite
As he turned to the form on the road, he immediately noticed that there was a Samaritan not far behind him. “I know what’s going on, because it happened to friends of mine on this very same road”. The body was a plant, a perfectly healthy man who was to draw me to the side of the road and attack me. Then with the help of the Samaritan they would rob me, strip me, and leave me half dead. Praise the holy name for the glance over my shoulder and the wisdom that Yahweh gives me for protection. This day life has been spared in Israel. He hurried quickly along the road and even as he continued he noticed the Samaritan stop to speak with his accomplice lying at the side of the road.
The Samaritan
Oh that poor man. What in the world has happened to him? Have people just passed him by all day? There are lots of people who travel this path, and no one has stopped to help him. I’d better stop to see what I can do for him. What a mess his is in. Bleeding, bruises, black eyes, and he has been robbed. I’d better do something with him; I just cannot leave him here. I know what it is like to be neglected, to be left for dead; that is how people treat me so much of the time. I can see why people neglect me, I am a Samaritan, but why have they neglected this poor man. What is happening to people? I have really felt that neglect, and I know how terrible it is to be left for dead. I’m not going to let that happen to him. I’ll clean and dress his wounds, put him on my donkey and take him to the Inn down the road. I am not a rich man, but, I have a little money that should take care of him for a day or so. I can’t believe that people just pass him over. Maybe they should be in the position of desertion and aloneness once in awhile so they really know what it means to be down and out. People are just too concerned about what others are going to think if they do something out of the ordinary.
