Story telling is an ancient art. Aesop told parables in long-ago Greece. Various ancient tribes passed down stories around the campfire. For centuries, parents and teachers have encouraged virtues with stories based on moral teachings.
No wonder Jesus taught with parables, a time-honored way to make a point.
A listener once asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus replied that he must first love God with all his heart and secondly love his neighbor as he loved himself.
“And who is my neighbor?” The listener asked.
Jesus then responded with the story about the man known as “The Good Samaritan.” An unfortunate traveler, after an attack by thieves, languished in need of care to save his life. A couple of pillars of the religious and political communities ignored him, passing by and leaving him. He was finally saved by a member of a minority group.
Jesus’ story made several points, of course, as effective parables often do. Those with power and resources sometimes choose to ignore those in need, caught up with growing their own bank accounts, not caring enough to share their resources with those we term “the less fortunate.”
Those in need surely would include children who don’t have enough to eat or proper medical care or adequate education. They would include many adults who work in jobs without health insurance. And surely, if we are to follow Jesus’ example of helping, we would include those who have made poor choices with their lives and end up homeless on our public streets.
Public funds should be adequately monitored to prevent fraud, of course. That anyone in our rich nation lacks food, medical care, and basic housing, however, surely puts us in the category of those who passed by the man who fell among thieves.
It may require tough love for those who have made poor choices—perhaps having them choose between supervision or entering a treatment program after too many public drug offenses. Or perhaps we may find better ways to offer treatment.
The fact that solutions are not easy does not prevent us from tackling the problems. We are called to do so.