Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee argued in an article on Thursday that the gift boxes sent to children, many in Muslim countries, stem from an organization that holds anti-Muslim and anti-homosexual sentiments. I cannot find an online aramaic Targum to verify the Aramaic word. Pray for the men and women who serve this nation in uniform, that God would protect them.”. Of that, $572,145 was spent on Franklin Graham's salary. Oh, and that maybe  disciples of Jesus should refrain from sending down fire from heaven on any city. But I also have faith that that meaning is not what Franklin Graham wrote recently, that “Muslim immigration into the United States should be stopped until we can properly vet them or until the war with Islam is over.” What seems to be two of the few clear things in the passage that gave us the name Samaritan’s Purse is that mercy can come from surprising places and that we are to show mercy to the stranger. That’s the real issue—not that restricting Muslim immigration might hurt efforts of faith-based groups to bring Christian refugees to the U.S., but that the notion of declaring all Muslims a danger is simply unjustifiable. The situation that spurs the parable is that an expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Secondly, Jesus answers the question “who is my neighbor” quite confusingly. He was a neighbor because he showed mercy. This is equivalent to 2.4 percent of the organization's expenses. […] My biggest hurt is that the church has no better answer than that?”. Thus, for Jesus to use a Samaritan to be the neighbor in the parable must have been quite a shock to the disciples, certainly, considering they were willing to treat a Samaritan village as if it were Sodom and Gomorrah for refusing Jesus. CEOs at the top 50 U.S. charities, including Samaritan’s Purse, earn in the $350,000 to $450,000 range, which makes Graham’s $622,000 salary … Part of the American ethos is inclusion, tolerance, and diversity. “I was so sad when I read the Facebook posting of Franklin Graham,” said Bob Roberts Jr. of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas, at a gathering on Capitol Hill. The LXX is what Luke is quoting, which you can because the expert quotes Deut as saying to love the Lord your God with all your “heart, soul, strength, and mind;” Hebrew and Aramaic don’t have separate words for heart and mind. In 2015, Samaritan's Purse used $23,643,532 for administrative expenses. The financials of Samaritan’s Purse are rated in the top tier, at 98.23, coming even above other really incredible organizations like Action Against Hunger (97.05), Doctor’s Without Borders (92.61), World Relief (89.76), Oxfam America (86.17), CARE (85.57), and Heifer Project International (85.15). ( Log Out /  It should be called “The Merciful Samaritan.” The Levite and Priest are not necessarily not good in the story. Some of the countries in which Samaritan’s Purse has worked might be surprised to find themselves grouped among nations whose countrymen would be prevented from coming to the U.S. 75 years ago. Samaritan's Purse, the organization behind the Operation Christmas Child project, has responded to accusations that it's anti-gay and anti-Muslim. Or, should I put it another way, I noticed that the parable’s familiarity in the culture had smoothed the edges of a much more challenging story than we often give it credit. But they don’t show mercy to someone else as the Samaritan does. I do have faith that there is some meaning to be found in the incongruity in these passages. Franklin Graham delivers an Operation Christmas Child gift-filled shoebox to a child in Belize on Dec. 28, 2015. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. “And who is my neighbor?” asks the man, to which Jesus tells him the parable. (PHOTO: FACEBOOK/FRANKLIN GRAHAM) Franklin Graham delivers an Operation Christmas Child gift-filled shoebox to a child in Belize on Dec. 28, 2015. (Luke 10:1-16). Part of the significance of him being a Samaritan is related to the significance of the other two defined characters being a Priest and a Levite. But Jesus didn’t ask the expert “who was following the Law?” Rather, he asked him, “who was the neighbor?” The neighbor was the Samaritan, who happened to be on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. But I also have faith that that meaning is not what Franklin Graham wrote recently, that “, Christmas Curmudgeon Ruins an Unnecessary Christmas Carol, Christmas Curmudgeon Upset at how These Young Kids Ruined his Favorite Hymn, Psalm 23 scans not as a Hebrew poem // English poetry in my ears is the 23rd Psalm. According to Samaritan’s Purse, the ministry has distributed more than 168 million Christmas shoeboxes in more than 160 nations since 1993. We do this by distributing millions of shoebox gifts to children who are affected by war, disease, disaster, poverty and famine to let them know that they are not forgotten," the group said. I do have faith that there is some meaning to be found in the incongruity in these passages. It’s an astonishing logistical operation. In that brief passage (9:51-56), Jesus sends messengers into a Samaritan village “to get things ready for him.” The Samaritans, though, did not welcome Jesus, because he was “heading for Jerusalem.” Presumably, because Samaritans rejected the Jerusalem Temple as an illegitimate locus of worship, the Samaritans also rejected those who worshipped there. Change ), My life with kids in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Both of these towns are in Judaea and not Samaria. Graham, who's also CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, was further accused of being anti-gay for adhering to biblical teachings on marriage — that it's is a union between one man and one woman. Given the tenor of Graham’s comment, the only part missing seems to be a call for internment of Muslims in the U.S., an analogue to the way this country herded some 110,000 Japanese-Americans from the West Coast into camps in the interior of the country. I find this quite challenging. Addressing America’s Democratic Deficit, Collective Impact and Systems Change: Missing Links. Award-winning Christian Newspaper • Your source for Christian News & Events. In response to Jesus’s rejection, James and John offer to call fire down from heaven to destroy the village! In other words, he was not a neighbor in the traditional sense as we understand neighbor, but only a neighbor as defined by Jesus and the expert in the Law. The gifts are distributed under the charity’s ‘Operation Christmas Child’ shoebox scheme. Franklin Graham has been reported to have received salary from his father's organization of near the same amount, which is related to Samaritan's Purse. That being said, I would imagine that reciprocity would be assumed by Jesus and the expert in the Torah, since they would know the Torah quite well. (PHOTO: FACEBOOK/FRANKLIN GRAHAM)Franklin Graham delivers an Operation Christmas Child gift-filled shoebox to a child in Belize on Dec. 28, 2015. He also worked in government. We’ve come to expect that. For instance, the text itself never calls the Samaritan “good.” “Goodness” does not seem to be at issue in the story, but yet we call it the parable of the “Good Samaritan” anyway. Graham’s anti-Islamic statement may harm his own organization’s ability to work in some countries. Jesus asks him what is in the Torah and the man says to love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. With operations in over 100 countries, Samaritan’s Purse is bound to be working with Muslims who have been victims of war, disaster, disease, and poverty. So, that does suggest that one who is neighborly to you makes you automatically your neighbor. Let your Congressman know that we’ve got to put a stop to this and close the floodgates. OCC’s goal for 2015 is to collect 11 million shoeboxes from the U.S., Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Spain, and the U.K, and distribute them to needy kids in over 100 different countries around the world. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a quote from Leviticus 19, wherein there are a bunch of laws related to how one treats his or her neighbor, including you shall not steal or defraud your neighbor. "Shoebox gifts are given to children regardless of religious affiliation and with no strings attached. Our method is demonstrated in love and we hope that our acts of compassion are an example of our faith. "We're not here to preach against anyone, we're here to talk about God," he added. It’s a strange rhetorical technique, perhaps meant to point us back to the original question, which is “what must he do to inherit eternal life” (answer: act like the Samaritan), which raises another question that is not mentioned enough: What is the significance of him being a Samaritan? Why are we allowing Muslims now? Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I’ve puzzled over Jesus’ definition of “neighbor” in this passage as well. Did I not understand the parable of the Good Samaritan? Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). In other words, they were following the Law—the very Law that Jesus was pointing the expert in the Law to read in verse 26. Therefore, anyone following closely would presume that the expert in the law should identify with the beaten and robbed man and should love the one who shows mercy on him. 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