Sword in the Fire

On a dusty, lonely stretch of road, a 1st Century Jew walks from Jerusalem to Jericho and it attacked by thieves.  They rob him of his possessions and leave him bloodied and half-conscious on the side of the road.   Fortunately for him, a priest and Levite travel the same road, but neither offer to help, but use their religion as a pretense for avoiding the man.   Then a Samaritan comes down the road.  For this man and most Jews, he would seem an unlikely ally.  Samaritan were half-Jews who had corrupted the faith of Abraham.  Their most famous celebrity were the Herods, whose record of benevolence was less than stellar.   Yet this unclean man stooped down with compassion, bandaged the wounds of the broken Jew, soothing him with oil and wine.  He placed the man on his own animal and carried him down the road to the inn.  He stayed the night watching and caring for the man till morning, then he left paying the bill but leaving a ...

The doctor heard a knock on his door, but did not want to be bothered.  The last couple days had been particularly hard on him.  It was not work that was hard, it was life.  Tragedy had struck his community.  A man he knew and loved had been arrested on trumped up charges, and without any hesitation the government executed him.   Grudgingly he walked to his door where another friend stood with eyes that mirrored his own grief.  In a low voice, he told of the next town over, whose doctor had unexpectedly left on a journey, but was in need of temporary assistance.  At first, the doctor balked, but the friend pushed him with the argument that it might be good to get away for a while, and he would accompany him till he could set up shop.   The doctor agreed, packed a couple essentials and tools, and left.  Along the way, silence dominated the trip, but occasionally a mumble or grunt would break out to recount the events of the las...