Pam Padgett
Luke 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted
him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said
unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he
answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind;
and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my
neighbour? 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his
raiment, 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 bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,
and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care
of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence,
and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and
whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that
fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him.
Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
As I read about the Samaritan who helped the man who had been left half
dead by thieves, it stood out to me that the injured man came
across the Samaritan's path. As he journeyed, he saw the injured man,
had compassion on him, and helped him. He hadn't set out to find
someone to help, but when someone came across his path who genuinely
needed help, he helped him. The injured man also came across the path
of the priest and the Levite, but they did not help him, not loving
their neighbor as themselves.
Before I retired, each year in late November and early December most people I
worked with would look for "needy" people they could "help" by buying
Christmas gifts for them. As I saw the various activities (finding
"needy" people, collecting money, finding out what the needy people
wanted, shopping, wrapping the gifts), it all seemed hard and wrong. I tried to stay as far away from these activities as I
could, but was still aware of them. Sometimes I heard things that
showed one of the fruits of what was being done was greed. Although
these people were trying to do good, I believe these things were actually foolish and evil.
One year while these
activities were going on at work, a widow who lives
across the street asked me to drive her to have out-patient hand
surgery. It was no problem for me to do this. Knowing it would
probably be hard for her to cook for a day or two after the surgery, I
also asked if she would like to come to my house to eat or I could bring
food to her house. As I quietly went about doing these
things, while at the same time seeing the flurry of activities at work
to find and help needy people, it was as if my eyes were opened to see
that this widow wasn't "needy" because I was her neighbor. I
hadn't looked for someone in need, but she had come across my path and I
just did what I saw, and was able, to do. It was very simple to do what needed to be
done, and not at all hard.
As we go through this life, we sometimes come across people who need
help that we are able to provide. When we see such, we are to help
them ... not being like the priest or Levite. And we are to do this
whenever these people come across our paths, not just once a year.
Often these aren't big works, but very simple things that we see to do
as we're going about our day. We just need to do those things. I
believe this is what we see in the case of the Samaritan, and is proper
order in the sight of God.
(Comments by Joan Boney ... Several years ago, a deacon in a Baptist Church came to me and said his church had taken up Christmas collection for the needy and he asked me if I knew any needy people. I replied, "If I knew any needy people they wouldn't be needy.")
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