The Samaratan or the Priest

Part of my daily ritual is a morning devotion. This morning's reading took me to the 10th chapter in the gospel of Luke and the very familiar story of the good Samaritan.

Reading this story again, it seemed so relevant to the recent events surrounding Mike Jones' efforts to raise funds for an AIDS meals charity and the counter-effort by preacher and ex-gay activist Karen Booth to halt that contribution. For those unfamiliar, Mike is the gay masseur whose witness exposed Ted Haggard's secret life and Mike was trying to auction his massage table on eBay to raise funds for Project Angel Heart. Karen led an e-mail campaign to stop the sale because it was "reprehensible" and "inflicted more pain and humiliation on Ted Haggard, his family and friends."

This inspired the following paraphrase:

"A man was living in Colorado, when he fell victim to a virus. It stripped him of his ability to work and care for himself, leaving him half dead. A preacher happened to be hear about an organization that would feed the man but she passed by on the other side. So too, fellow participants on her website, when they heard about him, passed by on the other side. But a gay prostitue, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He set up to sell an item through an online auction, something of value which he had purchased himself, and pledged the proceeds to a charity to feed the man. Hearing this, the preacher rushed back and lobbied the auction to withdraw the effort. She rallied those who agreed with her and they bombarded the auction with protest.

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"