Sunday/Samaritan
Anyone thinking of using the Bible as a creative writing course could do a lot worse than starting with the Good Samaritan. The traveler is from the spiritual heights of Jerusalem, going to the worldly Jerico, the starting place of Israel. He is ignored by the religious and political leaders and saved by the despised outsider. He is taken to an inn and the savior stays with him. Then he does one of those weird gospel specifics: he pats with two silver coins (said to be the Church and tradition.) And then the kicker: He will return.
And of course, it finishes with poignancy and humor. When Christ asks the lawyer who his neighbor is, the Jewish lawyer says, "He who showed mercy on him." He is unable to credit even a fictional cultural enemy.
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