A Manageable Task
A message delivered by Scott R. Cooper
St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon
July 11, 2010
This morning’s gospel is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
It is easily one of the most familiar passages in the Bible—the subject of sermons and Sunday school for sure but also the subject of great art, movies, poems and songs and lots of other secular attention.
Gary Cooper made a film called “Good Sam” in 1948 about a man who gave help to others at the expense of his own family. More recently, the popular TV show, NCSI titled an episode, “The Good Samaritan.”
Rembrandt and Van Gogh, among others, painted The Good Samaritan. Rembrandt’s picture is a rather dull composition of the poor Samaritan being lifted from a saddle horse at the inn. Van Gogh reversed the image and shows the Jewish trader lifting the Samaritan on to the horse in a brightly colored scene that looks a lot like something Meredith or Cecily might have painted.
Clearly, this is a story that resonates across the ages. So let’s take a moment before we delve into it and go back and review the basics of what it is all about.
