36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Once again, Jesus reminds us that mercy trumps! The prophet Micah’s words come to mind:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV)
Sounds easy, fleshes out a bit more difficult – our “self” just has a way of getting in the way! In stating that we are to “Love your neighbor as yourself” the teacher of the law asks Jesus “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds by telling him the Parable of the Good Samaritan which precedes our verses for today. In the parable, a man is heading from Jerusalem to Jericho - a trek of about 17 miles descending 3,000 feet. It was a dangerous, steep, winding way oftentimes laden with robbers. Jesus describes this man falling into the hands of this rabble. They beat him, stripped him of his clothes and left him half dead. Both a Priest and a Levite (those who assisted the Priests in the temple) passed by this half dead man going to the other side as if not to notice the blaring need set before them. Then Jesus tells us a Samaritan comes along taking pity on him. This is particularly interesting in light of the fact that the Samaritans were scorned and looked down upon by the Jews because of their mixed Jewish and Gentile ancestry. This merciful Samaritan bandaged the half dead man’s wounds pouring on his own oil and wine, placed him on his own donkey and took him to an inn to take care of him out of his own means. The next day, the Good Samaritan went the extra mile by telling the innkeeper to tend to this man’s needs and that he would reimburse him for any expenses incurred. To this Jesus states our verses for today. Which one of these three was a neighbor to the injured man? Jesus certainly has a way of getting straight to the heart of the matter! Similar to the Priest and the Levite, we can have a tendency to put our blinders on to the needs of those in our sphere. We walk on the other side of the street either pretending the problem is not there or being so consumed with our own lives and problems that we don’t even notice the hurt of others. Perhaps we think we have no idea how to help. I am not so sure that the Good Samaritan was a physician! He just did what he would have done for someone he knew and cared for. This is the part about loving your neighbor (ouch!). It sounds like to me, loving our neighbor will cost us. At the very least, it will cost us some of our self indulgent thought processes! When we come to the aid of others, it forces us to get our minds off ourselves. The beauty lies in that through our helping others we are elevated and helped! Just test this next time you are in a pit of self pity. Reaching out to the needs of others gets our minds off self and lifts us up out of the pit. I love what Proverbs states: 25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Prov 11:25 (NIV)
This can be a generosity of material things, a generosity of time or a generosity of talents. Remember John 3:16: 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV) God loved and He gave. “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” Amy Carmichael “We are to do acts of kindness to those that least of all deserve it.” William Law “Every act of compassion done by anyone for his fellow Christian is done by Christ working in him.” Julian of Norwich