Apparently, a sermon with the above title has caused outrage, see article here, h/t echurch blog. We are used to substituting the Good Samaritan with more familiar hated groups, the Good Assylum Seeker, perhaps. And I don't have any problem with the title of the sermon - Jesus identified with all of us, Jesus died for all of us. I can feel pretty cosy.
However, recently I was responding to a comment made on the blog by a Prostitute who considers that her profession is a good one. I was amazed at my reaction, I avoided engaging. The irony is that I don't have to substitute 'Prostitute' for a biblical equivalent, Jesus hung out with Prostitutes a lot in the scriptures. Of course they were all nice and clean and sanctified and repentant, the ones in the Bible, weren't they? Well it doesn't necessarily say that. Also, in the ancestry of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew, five women are mentioned; Tamar acted as a prostitute (albeit only the once), Rahab was a prostitute (helped with the spies), Ruth (who did that nifty thing by lifting the blanket off Boaz's feet in the night), Uriah's wife (Bathsheba - remember the incident with the bathing naked on the roof and David sending her husband to die on the front line?), and then Mary.
Interesting that these were the women mentioned in the genealogy. I wonder what my reaction to Jesus' friends and relatives would be? Not good, methinks.