Parable of the Undocumented Samaritan

According to the Sagebrush Gospel, Donald Trump sendeth a disciple unto Jesus. Trump himself tried talking to two Corinthians but didn’t appreciate what they had to say. “I’m smarter than all the Corinthians,” he cried.

Trump’s disciple sayeth, “The boss is doesn’t worry about eternal life, but he’d like some advice on how to get through the next four years.”

Jesus said, “You do realize I’m a Jew? I wasn’t impressed when he put an anti-Semitic white nationalist down the hall from the Oval Office.” The visitor was dismissive, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”  

Jesus said Trump should do what is written in the law. The man explained the President-elect had little regard for the law. “Mr. Trump has thrown out all the old rules.” Jesus explained there are some rules that even a billionaire narcissist can’t throw away.

“Here’s the bottom line. Tell Mr. Trump he needs to love his neighbor as much as he loves himself.” With visions of John the Baptist’s head on a platter when delivering a similar message to Herod, the man, attempting to justify himself, inquired, “Jesus, who is Mr. Trump’s neighbor?” Jesus answered with a story.

“A disabled lesbian wearing a scarf looking like a hajib was going down from Muddy Gap to Rawlins and fell into the hands of bigots wearing “Make America Great Again” caps, who beat her and went away, leaving her half dead.

“Now a newly elected legislator was going down that road, headed to Cheyenne. When he saw the wounded woman, he passed on the other side saying, ‘I have no time to help. I must hurry to Cheyenne to protect the sanctity of life and marriage, and oppose liberal plots like Medicaid expansion and anti-discrimination legislation.”

Likewise, a politician who had endorsed, unendorsed and then re-endorsed Trump came and saw her, passing by quickly on the other side of the road, hollering over his shoulder, ‘I’d help but I don’t believe in creating a culture of dependency.’ Then he scurried away mumbling something about drug testing and extreme vetting of people like her and how she should have armed herself with a concealed weapon if she didn’t want to end up like that.

“But an undocumented Samaritan who was traveling to a job no one else in Wyoming would take but people like him, came near the woman and was moved with pity. He went to her and bandaged her wounds.

“Then he gently sat her in his old pickup and brought her to an inn near Bairoil, though aware doing so increased the risk of being arrested and deported by the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He gave the innkeeper all the money in his pocket saying, “’Take good care of her, and whatever more it costs, I will pay you when I come this way again.’

“As he departed, the innkeeper knew what was expected of him in the age of Trump. He promptly called to report the Good Samaritan to ICE.”

Jesus then turned to the Trump disciple who had come to him and asked, “Which of these do you think was a neighbor to the woman who fell into the hands of the bigots?” The man said, “The one who rode for the brand, of course.”

“And who was that,” asked Jesus. “Obviously, it was the innkeeper,” he said proudly. Jesus hung his head and whispered to no one in particular, “The next four years will be an eternity.”

Then Jesus then said to the man, “No, it wasn’t the one who returned kindness with cruelty. Let him who has ears hear. The woman’s neighbor was the one who showed mercy to the disabled lesbian wearing the hajib. It was the undocumented Samaritan who risked his own life by helping the woman and is now sitting in a for-profit detention center in Georgia waiting to be deported.”

The man departed with a fallen countenance. There was no way Mr. Trump had ears to hear that parable.