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The parable of the Good Samaritan might be the most familiar story Jesus ever told—so familiar that we risk missing its truly radical message. Stepping into the pulpit, Guest Preacher Rev. Gary Keene offers a fresh perspective by reading this well-worn tale through a transliteration of the original Greek, creating just enough distance for us to hear it anew.

Through careful textual analysis, Gary reveals two profound subversions Jesus embeds in this simple story. The first is obvious: making a despised Samaritan the hero would have shocked Jesus' original audience, challenging their deeply held stereotypes about who could be "good." The second runs deeper: by stripping the victim naked and rendering him unconscious, Jesus removes all identity markers that would tell passersby who this person was—Jew, Gentile, friend, or enemy.

This nakedness completely transforms the lawyer's original question from "Who is my neighbor?" to "Who am I when confronted with human suffering?" The parable isn't about determining who deserves our compassion; it's about becoming people who show compassion without qualification. As Gary eloquently puts it, "This is the naked gospel—God's love stripped bare and offered to everyone."

Drawing connections to contemporary divisions—whether political, racial, or socioeconomic—Gary reminds us that we all create mental categories that determine who receives our care. Yet Jesus calls us to see past these artificial boundaries to the naked humanity beneath. We will all find ourselves "in the ditch" at some point, and what matters then isn't who we are, but whether someone will show us mercy.

What would happen if we treated everyone with the same unqualified care we show an infant at baptism, "for as long as we both shall live"? Neighbor, Jesus teaches us, is not a geographic concept but a moral one. When we embrace this truth, we don't just secure eternal life—we experience abundant life now, through relationships of genuine mercy and compassion.

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