This week I finished listening to Christine Caine’s book, Undaunted. It’s my first experience with the Australian author and speaker and I have to say, I am a fan! Her honesty and transparency touched me. I will be adding her other books to my reading list. In the last chapter of the book, “Nothing is Impossible” she shared the story of the Good Samaritan. Most of us are very familiar with the story, but I was struck with the realization that I had missed a major point that Jesus was teaching to all of us through this parable.

Christine and her young daughter were spending the day together, hurrying around to appointments, getting things done. Christine had given her daughter a dollar to spend on candy or another treat at the end of their busy day. While rushing past shops, heading to their next destination, Christine noticed all of a sudden that young Sophia wasn’t holding her hand any longer. She turned to find Sophia, offering her precious dollar to a destitute man, sitting on the sidewalk. “Tears streaming down his face, Honey, he said, you spend that on some candy for yourself. He had been given something far more precious than her dollar. Sophia had extended to him her heart and so much more. She had given him hope. She had reminded him that there was goodness in this world, and grace, even from a child. She had reminded him that God would provide, even from the least and most unlikely sources. Sophia had crossed the street or at least, moved to the side of it and God had gone with her.”

I have never thought about the parable of the Good Samaritan in this way before! I’ve always seen myself as the hero, the Good Samaritan. I’ve judged the wicked priest and Levite, unwilling to stop and help the beaten man on the side of the road. But…what if I really am the priest? What if I am really the Levite? We are all busy and I would guess that most of us want to do what is right for others. But is our busyness causing us to hurry by, when we see someone in need, right in our path? Are we too preoccupied to stop and take a moment to listen to the heart cry of a coworker who needs to talk? Are we too important to feel compassion for the homeless that we see wandering around our town square? Jesus used the most unlikely hero when he taught this parable. He used a Samaritan! The Jews would have considered them less than human, unworthy to even speak to. The Jews hated the Samaritans so much, that they would walk around Samaria, rather than taking a more direct route through the country, so that they didn’t have to come into contact with a Samaritan. Yet it was the Samaritan who saw the beaten man, felt compassion, and went to him. He saw his need and he took it upon himself to do what he could to help.

I know the problems of this world are overwhelming. How can I make a difference in all the injustices and pain of this world? God doesn’t expect us to try and solve them all. He knows that we are insufficient. But I can make a difference, by using what God has given me to help someone else. It’s more than a random act of kindness. It’s being the hands and feet of Christ, which is what, we who believe in Jesus, are instructed to do. The Samaritan saw the man’s need and he went to him. He didn’t pass on the other side, so he could avoid the hassle and the mess. He went to him, cleaned, and bandaged his wounds, put him on his own donkey, and took him to an inn. Let us not be so involved in our own lives, so wrapped up in our own messes, so busy, that we are unable to see the pain and needs of those around us. We are to use our hands to wipe the tears and lift others up. We are to use our feet to walk towards those who are hurting. Just as innocently as a child, we are to give up something that is very precious to us, our time…and with that sacrifice, we may not change the entire world, but we could change the world of a single person. Give what you have to Jesus, and he will multiply it in His own power, to produce so much more than you might have ever imagined. Cross the street and reach out to the desolate, and let God do the rest.  

Luke 10:29-37
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, 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, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

https://christinecaine.com/index.php?site=true