Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling through Detroit. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a deacon from the local church was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a the pastor showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
“A Muslim traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’
“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”
“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”
This struck me today on the way home from a swim meet (Go Eagles!). It seems to be quite fitting given the rampant islamophobia that's happening now a days and the recent #MuslimLivesMatter.
For some background and thoughts on this story check out my post The Dead Body on the Side of the Road which walks through some of the historical aspects and how it applies today.