Imagine that Jesus went to a Ku Klux Klan rally and they asked him who is my neighbor.
Jesus then might tell the Good Samaritan Parable, having the Grand Master of the Klan crash into a ditch on the way to a KKK meeting, only to be passed over by a white sheriff and a white minister. Finally, along would come a Black sharecropper playing the part of the Good Samaritan. He pulls the Grand Master out of the ditch and cares for him.
How do YOU think the hearers at the Ku Klux Klan meeting would respond when Jesus asked, “Which of the three proved to be a neighbor to the Grand Master?” They’d suddenly find themselves pairing together the words “GOOD” and “BLACK.” “The Good Black Man.” And how would they deal with that topsy-turvy reality?
JESUS’ LOVE BLAZES FORTH AND SCORCHES ALL BITTERNESS, RAGE, ENVY, CONTEMPT, SHAME AND FEAR. IT CASTS OUT OUR EMOTIONAL TURMOIL!
My Commentary: “The Good Black Man” — A Parable for Hearts in Need of Conversion
Jesus never shied away from difficult conversations. He didn’t soften truth to preserve comfort, and He certainly didn’t tailor His message to please the powerful.
When He told the parable of the Good Samaritan, He was speaking to people who despised Samaritans—religious and ethnic outcasts in the eyes of many Jews. Yet, it was the hated Samaritan—not the priest or Levite—who showed what it meant to love one’s neighbor.
Now imagine Jesus retelling that parable at a Ku Klux Klan rally—a setting drenched in hate, fear, and the tragic distortion of Christian identity. Picture the Grand Master of the Klan lying injured in a ditch. He’s ignored by the white sheriff and a white minister—figures of law and religion. Then a Black sharecropper—someone the Klan would deem subhuman—comes along, binds the Grand Master’s wounds, and saves his life.
Jesus then asks the crowd the same piercing question: “Which of these three proved to be a neighbor?”
The answer is unavoidable. The one who showed mercy.
But in naming him, they’d have to say words they’ve long kept apart: “The Good Black Man.” And in doing so, their whole worldview begins to crack.
This version of the parable is not just a provocation—it is an invitation. Jesus isn’t seeking to embarrass or shame, but to convert. His stories aim at the heart, breaking open prejudices and exposing the sickness within. Just as the original parable forced its hearers to reconsider who their neighbors were, so too would this retelling confront modern hatreds with the healing fire of God’s love.
This parable flips the script. The hated becomes the healer. The despised becomes the example. And suddenly, those who thought they knew who God loved are forced to face the radical, borderless mercy of Christ.
The Klan, confronted with this truth, would have to wrestle with a new and dangerous idea: that God’s image is borne not just by those who look like them, but especially by those they have dehumanized. That the greatest commandment—to love God and neighbor—cannot exist alongside hate.
Jesus’ question still echoes today:
Who was your neighbor?
And what will you do now that you know the answer? As racial tensions continue to mount in our country, please share this Message with many others.
