A PARABLE FOR TODAY

The Parable of the Americans and the Haitians

If Jesus were telling parables today what kind of stories would he tell? Let me suggest an updated version of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-25. We could call it The Parable of the Americans and the Haitians.

The United States flourished on a major portion of the North American continent with the vast majority of its population living in the lap of luxury. A short few hundred miles off the shores of America lay Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Most of the Haitian people were sick or under nourished and would have given anything to have eaten even a small portion the scraps that the Americans threw in the garbage.

Now a day came when an magnitude 8.8 earthquake devastated the capital city of Haiti and 250,000 people were killed and the angels carried them up to heaven; and at the same time another magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck on the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles devastating the city and another 250,000 people died and these people were buried. And in hell the Americans lifted up their eyes, being in torment, and saw God far away and the Haitians gathered close around him.

And the Americans cried out, "O God, have mercy on us, and send the Haitians that they might bring us a drop of water to refresh us for we are in torment in these flames." But God answered and said, "My children, remember that in your life you lived in the lap of luxury and lacked for nothing while the Haitians lived in abject poverty or worse; but now they are being comforted here, and you are in agony..."

Or perhaps he would tell the story like this: On the continent of North America a great population lived, many gathered together in vast urban sprawls with plenty of food, clothing housing and health care and all the luxuries that money could buy. At the same time, scattered throughout the nation in desolate wasteland places lived the reservation Indians...

It's just something to think about.