November 4th

The Good Samaritan

            But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’  Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10:29-37

            Do you know why the Levite and the priest would not help the victim in this story?  It was not that they did not notice him.  Both of the holy men saw the half-dead man lying on the ground and moved to the other side of the road.  It was not because they were cruel and heartless men.  They had dedicated their lives to the service of God and of their fellow man.  They lived to serve which requires a certain softness of heart.

            The priest and the Levite avoided touching the man because they were too busy.  Specifically, they were forbidden by the law to touch a corpse.  If they touched a dead body, they would become unclean and have to go through a lengthy purification process.  While in that process, they would be unable to fulfill their holy duties and the people who needed them would suffer.  They were too important, too busy doing God’s work, to be interrupted by someone that they would probably not be able to help anyways.

            It makes sense, the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, but the hero of the story is the one who takes a risk and is willing to be interrupted.  The Samaritan had places to go and people to see.  He knew that the man lying on the ground could be part of a trap set by bandits to rob and kill him.  He knew that helping the victim would be costly in time and money and yet he did it anyway, even for someone who probably hated him because of his race.

            We have the choice.  We can choose to be interrupt-able or we can choose to be rigid.  We can choose to get things done on time and under budget and according to plan or we can choose to allow all those things to be thrown out the window as our children crash into our lives over and over and over again.  Problems are never scheduled.  Crises never consult with our calendars or our to-do-lists.  There is never a good time for something to break or someone to break down.  But those are the exact moments that God does some of his best and most important work.

            It could be the friend needing to stay up all night to talk.  It could be the sick family member that needs someone to fly down and be with them right away.  It could be the child who just needs to sit in a dark room for a while with a parent while they decompress from their day at school.  When these moments come, we can choose to say that we are too busy and too important to stop and be interrupted.  Or we can choose to recognize these moments as holy invitations to love those that God has given to us.  We can choose to be angry and impatient or we can choose to be compassionate and merciful. 

            We have the choice and the invitation within this Most Famous Story is to enter into the interruption and pay the cost with freedom and joy. In those moments we are walking the path that Jesus laid out for us.

A moment to reflect:

How can you prepare yourself internally and externally to be interrupted today?