Pray it Off 12/22/2011 The Good Samaritan by Esther Ward

December 16, 2011 For the Love of a Neighbor by Esther Ward

27 And he answering said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.
28 And He said to him, you have answered right: “Do this and you shall live.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his garments, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the next day when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him,” Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.”
36 Which now of these three, do you think, was neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, “He that showed mercy to him”. Then said Jesus to him, Go, and do likewise.
Luke 10:27-37

In the past as I’ve looked at this parable, I always thought about a physically injured person being ignored by “Christian” passer-bys and a Samaritan being a “non-Christian” comes to his rescue. I suppose I thought it didn’t have much relevance in my life; I help others and the needy when I can. However, after reading this the past couple of days, God has shown me a bit of a different perspective.

How often do we pass by people who have fallen away from the faith, or in the midst of struggles and difficulties? Or not really pay attention to what’s going on in their lives? Maybe they’ve begun hanging around people they shouldn’t, or maybe they become ill, or suffer from depression? Perhaps it’s a person who’s found out they have a terminal illness, or their spouse just walked out and left them. What do we generally do? Do we reach out to them, or do we ignore them and pass by allowing them to suffer alone like the Levite and priest in our parable?

The Samaritan goes to him and bandages up his wounds, then takes him some place safe were he can heal. He goes to him. He doesn’t wait for an invitation, or to be asked. He sees a man in trouble, and wounded who needs someone to help him out of his situation, right then, not later or when it’s convenient but then. Not just a temporary fix either, by throwing money at him, or a few scraps of food at him; but he literally goes with him and provides for him till he is well and can do for himself. Wow! Think of the impact of that? What if we all did that for those around us who needed help out of various situations? What if we acted like a neighbor instead of an accuser, or judge, and really rescued people? I don’t see even one time where the Samaritan asked him why he was in that situation… he just came to his rescue and helped him, it didn’t matter why, or how this man ended up in his predicament. Now that is the mark of true a neighbor. It exhibits Christ’s command to ‘love your neighbor’ perfectly!

Let’s remember to be more aware of those around us in our daily lives, and their needs. Not just their physical needs, but there spiritual and emotional needs as well. And not just the person who lives next door to us, but also the “neighbor” in the church pew you haven’t seen in a few weeks, or the class-mate in Sunday school who has been out for a while, or the clerk at the grocery store you go to every couple days. They are your neighbors; you should go to them if they are in need and help them, even if they don’t ask you. They may not be able to ask for help for many reasons. That doesn’t change the need however, or the fact that they need help in order to heal, and move forward with their lives.

Let’s remember to have mercy, and go lovingly and compassionately to our neighbors, helping them as Christ tells us we should.