What's so scandalous about a good samaritan?

Dear Ohio State Buckeye fans,

I want to tell you a story. And I must first make it clear that I am one.

Okay this Buckeye fan is driving to a football game. He has never been to a college football game and never dreamed of actually getting to go to one. Well he won this lottery that gave him the opportunity of a lifetime. Not only was he attending a game, he was going to THE game. Ohio State vs. Michigan.

He was thrilled and couldn't believe his luck. He doesn't make much money and never would have been able to pay his own way. In fact driving his car 70 miles to the big game was a risk in itself. And 20 miles outside of Columbus his luck ran out. He pulls over to the side of the road with a dead car. He gets out and tries every thing he knows about cars but can't get it going.

So he starts to a try to flag down the cars racing by him on the freeway. Most of these cars, in fact all of these cars, are obvious buckeye fans with their cars decorated in scarlet and gray and "go bucks" written across the back window. So he displays his buckeye gear thinking this will get him some help. It doesn't. 5 then 10 then 45 minutes pass and no one stops to help.

Then finally after nearly 90 minutes he sighs with relief as he sees a vehicle pulling over in the distance. "Finally a buckeye fan with some sympathy", he thinks. As he watches the car approach he can't believe his eyes. After hundreds of buckeye fans whizzing by he will be helped to THE game by......................a Michigan fan!

Okay that story was cheezy but it's my best analogy ( for a buckeye fan anyway ) of Jesus' parable about the good samaritan.

First a bit of history: When the kingdom of Israel split, one kingdom was called Judah ( in which the city of Jerusalem was situated ) and one remained named Israel. The temple was in Jerusalem and the this was the center of religious life for the Jewish people. Israel, on the other hand, settled in SAMARIA.

Well because of forsaking God, Israel ( in Samaria ) was attacked by Shalmaneser King of Assyria. He captured it and deported these Israelites to Assyria. Then Shalmaneser resettled Samaria with people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim. And each group made and worshiped their own gods.

So in Jesus' time a Samaritan was not someone to associate with. They were viewed as a worthless and ungodly people. Kind of like a buckeye fan views.......no just kidding.

So for Jesus to tell a story where a SAMARITAN was the hero really must have ticked some people off! Not only that but a priest and a Levite ( the religious leaders of Jesus' day ) in his story are used as examples of wrong actions ( or inaction ). Oh and this story Jesus tells is in response to a question from an "expert in the law". A Pharisee ( i.e. priest / levite ) ?

No wonder Jesus was crucified. He had to be silenced!