Samaritans and Neighbors???

7^th and 8^th grade Literature assignment: Write a paraphrase of the Good Samaritan story. Like Jesus’ original parable, try to deconstruct some of our cookie-cutter assumptions, prejudices, or cultural categories that are forced on people or people groups.

With my student's permission I have chosen to present to you a few of the best.

A man once asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered, “Can I tell you a story?”

There once was a man who loved to gamble. In fact, he won every game, but there was one thing he did in order to win. He cheated! When the players found out that he was cheating, they beat him up and threw him out of the casino, hoping that he would die.

After some time the mayor of the town came by. Seeing the beat up man along the side of the street, he passed by on the other side. He did not want to be seen by the people in the town, helping a straggler.

About ten minutes later a mail man drove by on his way to deliver some late mail. Seeing the guy on the side of the road made him cringe, so he called 911 and drove on by.

After a short time President Obama came driving by in his big shiny escalade, headed for a meeting in Las Vegas. He looked out the window just in time to see the old man. After telling the driver to stop he went over to check on the man. With President Obama and the driver’s help, they managed to get him into the car. After all that was over, they took him to a hospital, where he was carefully bandaged. The President was late for his meeting, but now he knew for sure that the man was in good hands.

After that Jesus said, “Which man was the neighbor?” The man said, “The President.” Then Jesus said, “go and do thou likewise.” -Austin

Once upon a time a lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered him with a story.

Once there was an atheist. He was a bitter man. His wife had died of cancer, so he had cursed God. Then one day he got into a fight with a gang. They started slashing him with their knives. He got a deep cut on his arm, and his hands were bleeding. The leader pulled out a pistol hidden under his shirt and was going to shoot the atheist, but the other gang members protested to killing him. They left, leaving him on the sidewalk beside the street to bleed to death.

Five minutes passed. Then an Eastern Orthodox Jewish Priest came by. He didn’t want to make his new robe bloody. He had paid $1063.54 for his golden robe. After all, a priest has to “stay clean.” The man is an atheist and deserves what he got,” He told himself. He caught a taxi and tried to forget the scene.

Then a young doctor stopped by the bloody man. He had just got out of college, hoping to become rich. He had a First Aid kit with him. He stilled his conscience by saying to himself that he didn’t have enough skill to bandage the atheist's bad wounds. He called the hospital so they could bring an ambulance. Then he hurried off down the street.

An hour went by. The atheist was slowly bleeding to death. A Muslim came driving down the street. He saw the bleeding atheist and knew that he needed help immediately. He also knew that the atheist was a supposedly hated infidel. Nevertheless, he went against his own religion and loaded the man into his old Toyota Camry. He drove to the hospital and let them take care of him. Although he was poor, he promised to pay for the medical expenses.

“Which of these men was a neighbor,” asked Jesus. “The Muslim,” replied the lawyer. “Right,” said Jesus. “Go and do likewise.” -Jonathan

A man once asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus said, “Let me tell you a story.”

Once upon a time there was very poor man. He was about 22 years old. He lived on the streets of Paris, sleeping each night near the subway vents in an attempt to harvest at least a little warmth. His parents were killed by a drug lord and the most terrible gang in town.

This young man whose name was Bill was sitting on a bench in the town's “middle class” area. A French governor was coming up the sidewalk. He was a very respected man in town. When he saw Bill he stopped crossed the street and kept going.

Later, while Bill was sitting beside a Catholic Church, the Pope came walking up the street with a crowd following him. He saw Bill and then turned his head and walked past.

That night as Bill was trying to sleep near a subway vent. He couldn’t sleep because of the hunger pangs in his stomach. Suddenly a very creepy looking man came walking past. Just like that, Bill knew who it was. It was the drug dealer. When the drug dealer saw him he suddenly felt compassion. He never felt that way before, but he decided there must be a first time for everything. He felt in his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills tossing them to Bill. He told Bill to find some warmer clothes and get something to eat. Later he helped Bill find a job, and they decided to both turn over a new leaf.

Jesus said, “witch one was the man’s neighbor?” “The drug dealer,” said the man.

-Matthew

One time a man asked Jesus, “Who really is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “I want to tell you a story.”

The narrow street was empty. Lush green trees bordered one side and an unkept trailer court extended along the other side. No one was around except for one man. He was lying in front of one of the junkiest trailers. Chairs, boxes, and all kinds of odds and ends surrounded him. The old man had been rooting round in the mess, trying to find something. He had slipped and hit his head on a hard object, knocking him unconscious.

The pastor frowned and jumped across a muddy puddle of water. He was not in favor of walking this dirty, God-forsaken alley to reach his church. He was late, and would miss the music at the start of church. Taking this detour was maddening. Now he saw the old man lying in front of the trailer. He shuddered. He knew he should probably see what the problem was, but he was late for church. He turned his head away and passed by.

The Catholic priest held his black robe up as he carefully avoided the puddles in the street. Out of the corner of he eye saw an old man lying still in front of a dumpy trailer. He did not want to get dirty trying to help the man out, so he hurriedly asked the Holy Mother Mary to watch over the man. He continued on his way to see how the people in his parish were faring.

Along came another man. He was not the kind of person that was a caring one. He occasionally got into drugs, and he always looked bedraggled. When he saw the old man, he immediately went to check on him and then called 911. The old man was taken to the hospital, and a part of his bill was paid by his rescuer.

“Who do you think was the old man’s neighbor?” questioned Jesus. “The last one,” replied the man. Go and do the same,” Jesus finished. -Christianne