I like understanding why people
do what they do. I try as much as possible to look for noble purposes in people
we like to paint in a very dark way.
Why? Surely there is no person on
earth who is all evil. Only Satan has no goodness resident in him. Ecclesiastes
says that God has put eternity in the hearts of men, meaning that we have the
seed of God in each of our hearts. What we do with it is what will make us evil
or good. Again we know that we were created in the image and likeness of God.
Sin only corrupted that image. It did not erase it.
But it does not mean we are good
or Christ would not have had to die for us. As we release ourselves to the
world and to sin we continually tend toward evil, to the end that we become
what the world became until God had to destroy it during Noah’s time. And that
is the reason we have heard all through history of characters that were known
as personifications of evil. They had released themselves to be ruled by their
sin tendencies without restraint.
Most people are just like you and
me and I feel it is instructive if we used more grace when judging them for
their sins (they most likely called them omissions or oversights like we would
do were we in their shoes).
In Luke 10 we are introduced to a
story that appears very current. A guy has been mugged and left for dead. It
happened to me once and I have a scar to prove it. It happens in cities all
over and may be more current that we think. I remember after regaining
consciousness (reviving was more like it) after two hours I did not know where
I was. I started wandering around to get some bearing. I was bleeding even from
the ears.
I came to a church mission which
was easily recognizable and had guards at the gate. I asked them for help and
they refused. Then I collapsed again and was unconscious for some time. I woke
up in the same place and none had as far as touched me. I eventually was able
to slowly drag myself to the police station where I was able to have slip
written to take to hospital.
Let us go back to our parable.
Why was the priest not able to help? Was his heart hard or did he have adequate
reasons. Why did he pass the other side of the road? Why did the Levite do
exactly the same thing?
Let me put myself in their shoes.
Suppose I am a priest and have been invited to another city to perform my
priestly duties. It has been planned for a long time and is a ceremony that is
the highlight of the whole city. It may be the dedication of a new synagogue or
probably the opening of the town’s Sabbath school. It had to be big to attract
the ministry of the priest.
Now consider this character lying
on the road. Is he dead or alive? I can see blood all over so he is badly hurt
if not already dead. What do I do? What are the implications of what I will do?
Blood defiles and so this guy is
unclean. Touching him to help will defile me. It is even worse if he is dead
because I will then be unclean for a whole week. Should I or should I not? I
must make the decision fast so that I can face the implications early enough.
Helping him means I cannot
minister to the town that has planned this ceremony for a long time because it
will render me unclean to perform the rites. Helping him therefore means I will
disappoint a town that has waited for my availability for a long time. I can’t
disappoint them just to help someone I am not sure is alive anyway or do not
know whether my assistance will make any difference to him as he looks dead
anyway.
I also cannot defile myself for a
person when I am more useful in my ritually clean state. God would hold me
accountable for disappointing the hopes of a city just because I became
careless with my ritual purity. I would have a harder case with God if I
defiled myself with this man than if I left him as I am more useful to Him when
I am ritually clean.
It was therefore logical that he
passed on the other side of the road to avoid the temptation of feeling the
urge to help. I am sure his heart was being torn apart by the need at hand but
the prevailing circumstances dictated otherwise. He was a minister to the
community and must have felt the pain of being unable to help because he had a
very key ministry to perform which would be disqualified by helping this lone
victim.
The Levite must have also
reasoned along the same lines. They did a complimentary ministry which demanded
ritual purity to perform.
Does this make them innocent? Did
the reasons the guards at the mission use to deny me assistance justify them? No.
We are always hearing a lot about the letter and spirit of something. Being
guided by the letter is very painful. Christ came to infuse in us the spirit of
His law. And that is what the Samaritan operated on.
You see he was a reject. Chances
were that if that man was conscious he may have refused the assistance from a
Samaritan as it would have made him unclean. Very few would have appreciated
the help of a reject. Some would have preferred to die. I suspect that is the
reason he offered to come and clear other bills as no one else would have
wanted to partner with a Samaritan even in clearing the bills. Remember the
Samaritan woman having issues with giving Jesus just a drink of water?
Why did he do it? I am sure he
was aware that he may later be penalized for helping a Jew. But he operated in
a different realm. He knew that a living dog is better than a dead lion and
that he would rather suffer for saving a life than deal with the condemnation
that comes from excusing inertia. He operated in the spirit that says ‘do unto
others what you would like done to you’. He operated under ‘cast your bread
upon the waters and you will find it after many days’. He operated under ‘blessed
are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy’.
He knew that what you do will
come back to you though that is not the reason you do it.
He shamed the Jews who knew the
law by keeping it as they looked for reasons to avoid doing it.
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go
thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:24)
Jesus hates unfinished business.
He never excuses opportunities passed over for convenience, however reasonable.
Ministry is never cover for meeting needs which do not look like ministry. And
it is the reason we are told it is deception to talk about loving God when you
are cold toward people.
Again Jesus talked about one
versus many when he gave the parable of the lost sheep. The true shepherd does
not think along the lines that he has just lost 1% of his flock which was a
small difference in his stock. He had lost a prized member of his flock and had
no peace until he found it. Like we rightly say were I the only person on
earth, Christ would still have hung on the cross for me. Christ places immense
value on a person, a thing we see consistently in His ministry.
That was the spirit this
Samaritan was guided by.
I will leave us with the reward
of people who operate under the same spirit. Please notice that they do not
even realize that they had done anything as it was their natural reaction to
need as opposed to a ministerial obligation.
Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked,
and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a
stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and
came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say
unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew
25: 34 – 40)
As you progress with the passage
you will see a similar thing happening to the likes of the priest and Levite
who lost out because quantifiable ministry was more important than meeting the
need of people who might disappear into the woodwork after I minister to them.
May God help us to operate in the
right spirit, the spirit that Christ seeks to grow in our spirits so that we
will stop talking about the Good Samaritan when Christ simply says ‘a certain
Samaritan’. To Christ this is what He expects of each one who calls Him Lord to
be like.
Suppose you were in this parable.
Who would you be and why? Would you like to be somebody else?
God bless you.
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