Luke 10

²⁵ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’^[h] and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”^[i]

²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”

³⁰ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man, an American of Tanzanian descent after staying in a French Styled Motel in New York, caught a cab driven by a Cuban Immigrant, to the airport to fly to Dubai via London on an Emirates Flight that had personalised in-flight entertainment and free Wi-Fi. He watched an English movie, ate New Zealand Chocolates and drank Bundaberg Ginger Beer. He had ordered bacon and eggs, but seeing Emirates is a Muslim Company, there are no pork products served.

In Dubai he fell among thieves, who stripped him of his Italian clothing, took his Gucci wallet with his Platinum Amex card, wounded him with a Swiss Army Knife, and departed on a BMW Motorcycle, leaving him half dead. It was a particularly brutal attack seeing he was an American in a Muslim country and the attacked seemed to have racial overtones, as the attacker kept shouting “Get out of Afghanistan”. ³¹ Now by chance a certain American Rolex wearing Televangelist, came down the road. The road was at the time under construction, with a significant number of under paid Indian workers, who had willingly been flown in to work in Dubai, to escape the massive unemployment rate in Mumbai. The workers unfortunately were poorly treated and weren’t able to help the injured man as they feared reprisals from their violent boss. When the Televangelist saw the injured man, he took a photo of him on his new iPhone 5, uploaded it to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, LinkedIn and appealed for finances to assist in solving the violence that is in the world, giving his PayPal account details for donations. He then went on his way after he had blogged about his experience and posted the blog to lonelyplanet.com.

Likewise, an Australian couple came down that road, holding hands and kissing. They were newly weds who had met on eHarmony.  When they arrived at the place, they came and looked, and passed by on the other side, and as they did, they were arrested for public displays of affection which are illegal in Dubai and they were charged with being culturally insensitive and spent 4 months in a Dubai prison. There was no trial and only two visits were allowed from the Australian Embassy Officials. (Their relatives in Australia started a Free Fred and Mary Facebook page and to date it has 7833 Likes.) ³³ But a certain UAE Government Official, as he journeyed, came to where the injured man was. And when he saw him through his English manufactured glasses, he had compassion. ³⁴ So he went to him and bandaged his wounds using the first aid kit that he had purchased whilst in Johannesburg on Business (Manufactured in China), pouring on oil and French wine; and helping him to his car, he took him to the 7 Star Motel Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah. and took care of him. ³⁵ On the next day, when he departed paying for the motel in US Dollars,^[j] he took out a further $2000USD, gave them to the young Brazilian Receptionist who was on exchange from Brazil as part of the International Luxury Hotel Exchange Program, and said to her, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, text me and I will direct credit your account.

So which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?”

³⁷ And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Categories: Theology, Topics to wrestle with

Tags: Globalisation and the Good Samaritan, The good Samaritan, the impact of Globalisation