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[Note: This is one of a series listed under the heading: Wordie Post." It was originally posted on the Word Press blog entitled "Our Daily Bread," found at rtippett97@wordpress.com. The changes at Word Press are similar to those on Twitter and Facebook, where I was posting to an empty space. That was because I began and maintained that blog as one of their free offerings. When their force to change to a paid blog website did not move me, they cancelled their "Reader," so posting on Word Press has become like a caged animal at the zoo, where only workers occasionally toss the animals a bite to eat. Word Press [et al] is like what I imagine life was like in the satellite countries of the Soviet Union: meager, bleak, spiritless. So, I am transferring those forty articles here.]
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Back during the forced shutdown of the world that took place in 2020, I was too busy to notice. I wrote and published several books, all of which can be found available on online booksellers. One book was Explaining the Parables: From the Gospel of Luke, which had me explain the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In that book I pointed out how Jesus (the teller of the parable) was the man beaten, robbed, and left for half-dead. I stand by that analogy; but I have now come to a clearer understanding. The one “beaten, robbed and left for half-dead is the Covenant that attaches one’s soul to Yahweh in marriage. Only when one sees how attacked, how stripped of all true value, and how left as some meaningless agreement were the tablets Moses brought down from a mountain, long ago … when times were different than they are now … the Covenant has become a reflection of how commonplace divorce has become. Marriage between human beings [Western variety] lies in the gutter, barely living. Without taking the agreement in marriage to Yahweh seriously … with total and complete commitment … then there can be no Jesus reborn within one’s soul, from that union. So, seeing the man left in the road to Jericho as the Covenant, it becomes Jesus as well.
The Jericho Road was a well-traveled road that led away from Jerusalem. To the east lay less and less people who considered themselves Jews. Because that steep and barren wilderness road was known as a place where bandits could easily hide in wait, able to choose their prey, they were like the wolves who were the predators of lost lambs. The priest of the Temple stayed far from any sign of danger to himself, as he was taught to ignore people not wearing fancy robes. Beaten made the Covenant appear to be flawed. Robbed meant there was no money to make from selling it as is. There was no thought of rescuing anyone other than himself, so he stayed eyes forward, avoiding eye contact. He ignored his own half-dead carcass laying there, because the man in the road reflected the priest’s soul’s link to the Covenant.
The Levite was the servant of the Temple. He cleaned the slaughter knives, after he used them to cut the throats of innocent lambs. To see someone blemished meant he had no role to play in rescue. He was the executioner. No more. Even if he looked and saw his soul’s rejection of the Covenant, worshiping instead the priests of money, he did not care to be any more involved than he already was.
The Samaritan then speaks of all who were rejected by the Jews of the Temple of Jerusalem. They were seen as vile people, simply because Samaritans were the lost sheep of the Northern Kingdom – a.k.a. Israel. They had married pagan; so, they were seen as sub-humans. Jesus was sent to find those and return them to the fold. It was him who was found, when his soul rescued the Covenant (and Jesus). He cared that it was all crumpled up and tossed away like old news.
The lesson of this parable is it equally applies to everyone today. The Jericho Road symbolizes the world too busy with sin to care about Yahweh or His Covenant. They prey on believers as easy marks. The Jews know that, so they stay away from any traps set for them to get their robes dirty, dealing with Christian issues. They see Jesus as a fairy tale; but they know talking good about Jesus to Christians will get Israel lots of donated money. Their counterparts today are popes, bishops, priests and clergy that would rather step over the Covenant (and Jesus) to stand on a soapbox, in order to speak at some political rally: “Look at how important I am! I know what Jesus would do! He too would step on as many people as I have, just to save a couple of worthless souls, like me!”
The ones who served the Temple then are the butchers who clean the wafer trays, wash the silver goblets, and iron the fancy linens used by priests. They could care less about what anything means. They would just as soon serve a church in some non-paying function, as they would love kicking winos out of the homeless shelter, because they smell like alcohol. They say, “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I’m not important enough to think about religious matters.” Religion to them is just volunteer work that they do in order to be told, “You, my man (or woman) are bound for Heaven!”
Meanwhile, there are not a lot of Good Samaritans around. Another name for the Christian versions today would be “Saints.” They are like dinosaurs – extinct … except for a few hiding in the wild. They are souls married to Yahweh, who live by the Covenant. They maintain it, at all times. They are the ones where it is recited, “[Yahweh] has spoken through the prophets.” Prophets are not like Bigfoot. They are just harder to find, especially in their hometowns.