Parables are simple life stories Jesus used to teach about spiritual truths. They raise intense curiosity, promising more for seekers. The interested ones will be inspired and uninterested will walk away uninspired. They are not myths or fables, nor are they doctrines or prophecies. The parable of the 'good samaritan' is the story of love beyond barriers. A Samaritan made his way down to Jericho and encountered a wounded Jew lying alongside the road. Others had hurried by too busy with their own affairs to be interrupted. But the Samaritan, who was hated by the Jews and who would be expected to pass by, “had compassion and stopped and bandaged his wounds, . . set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:33-34)
There are three groups in the story: the robbers who look for opportunity to rob others, the priest and the Levite who find a need as a trouble to avoid and the Samaritan who finds a need as an opportunity to serve. Driven by greed, the robbers hurt and rob others. Their attitude is 'what is yours is mine, and I can take it from you.' They were controlled by greed and rob others as throuh their actions or words. This can be seen in churches and work places too. The religious men saw the person as a trouble to avoid. Their attitude was: 'what is mine is mine, and I will keep it.' They were driven by selfishness. They are self centered in their prayers and their actions. Someone quoted and example of self-centered prayer liks this: “Lord bless me and my wife, my son Johnny and his wife-we four and no more”. Our lives can become self centered that we can miss the wounded and the needy. We see influence and power get more attention even in churches than the poor and the needy and miss the mission.
The Samaritan man saw in the person an opportunity to help. His attitude was: 'what is mine is God’s' and I will share it with you'. He was driven by compassion and had a vision that nobody else had. He did not have any obligation to do this. We tend to help people in circles that we are comfortable with, circles we have a vested interest for some reason, or circles we can relate to. We draw circles around us and decide who to let in and who should be our friend and who is not. God’s mission comes to us in strange ways, often in the form of interruptions. We are asked in this parable to stop looking at such intrusions as interruptions. Instead these are opportunities that God is sending us to serve those in need beyond barriers.
One early Christian writer, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, said, “Love is the duty of the present moment.” No matter what else we may have planned, love is our duty. We are given opportunities every day, with the wounded, the neglected, the lonely and the social outcasts like murderes, drug addicts, criminals of various kinds. Our news papers and online media publish names of convicts so that the society can avoid them. Our neighborhood committees frown up on them. Communities do not like them to be around. The mission of the gosple is to draw bigger circles regularly to include them. Christ’s compassion reaches out to such people so that they can be restored.
Blessings
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