They lived in the house next door when we first moved to Wareham – a family of four plus a hound. He worked in heating and cooling, she as a pharmacy assistant. We were the only residents with young children on a street where most of the original owners of the 1950’s homes still remained.

One of the crankier neighbors lived right across the street from them, an eighty-something widow who took every opportunity to yell at their middle school son and his friends. She complained about the parents to her neighbors. If they had guests, she complained about cars parked in front of her house. The family could do no right in her eyes.

Most people would to their best to ignore such a woman, or even return insult for insult. Not these people. Whenever there was a power outage, they would go check on her. He made sure her fireplace worked and that furnace came back on; she made sure there was enough food and water in the house.

Jesus tells such a parable – when the one who has no reason to help is the one to save a life. It took me longer than it should have to notice the Gospel playing out on my street, just past the hedge…