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As I considered my New Year’s Resolution this week (framing it in my mind this week as “to understand more fully that I am no better in the eyes of God than anyone else”), I thought of the parable of the Good Samaritan – and I suddenly remembered something I had written on Times & Seasons almost exactly four years ago. It was a re-posting of something one of my “sons” had written – about a situation that made him angry and frustrated with humanity. He admitted in one of his follow-up comments that the title (the one I used as the title of this post) was a bit hyperbolic, but I loved the post when he wrote it and want to re-re-post it here as my New Year’s Resolution post. I encourage you to read the comments on Times & Seasons, as well, and comment here – even though it will take some time to do so. Some of them strayed from the point I was making by re-posting it, so go ahead and skip the comments that don’t focus on the parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable, more than perhaps any other story in our scriptural canon, captures the spirit of what I have been thinking this week – and it is weighing quite heavily on my heart and mind, in more ways than one.
With that introduction, here is the link:
“Today I Lost My Faith in Humanity”( http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2007/10/today-i-lost-my-faith-in-humanity/ I don’t really see how the story relates to your humility resolution — other than to perhaps point out that the people who failed to be good Samaritans thought they were better than the man on the road? Perhaps I need to hear the point directly. I have been struck by how we (the generic “we”) ignore others who are different than we are – and how we justify that rejection by citing all the other things that crowd our lives and take away our time. If someone had asked all those who passed by the injured Samaritan (or the dead man in the post) why they had done so, I’m positive they would have had “reasons” for why they didn’t stop and help. At heart, though, I wonder if they felt superior to the man lying on the side of the road – if they felt like the man had brought it on himself – if they felt disgust or revulsion or fear or arrogance at a higher level than they felt compassion and concern and love and humility.
I’m dealing with some people right now who are making it really hard for me to live what I preach and believe – and I wonder how I would react if I was in a hurry and saw one of them in such a situation. I’m sure I would stop – but I wonder what I would do if it was someone I didn’t know who appeared to be a dirty, smelly, jobless, drunken bum. Would I be the good Samaritan – or would I be one of the others who found an excuse to walk by on the other side?
More broadly, should I be seeking more diligently to find and serve those who are the modern equivalent of the poor, the lepers, the publicans, the sinners, etc.? Am I missing the point of the parable even if I do stop and help one person whose plight I can’t help but see – and is the reason I might only see “the one”, perhaps, that I don’t value “the ones” as much as I value myself and those I know and love?
Old-Timer wrote:I have been struck by how we (the generic “we”) ignore others who are different than we are – and how we justify that rejection by citing all the other things that crowd our lives and take away our time.
If someone had asked all those who passed by the injured Samaritan (or the dead man in the post) why they had done so, I’m positive they would have had “reasons” for why they didn’t stop and help. At heart, though, I wonder if they felt superior to the man lying on the side of the road – if they felt like the man had brought it on himself – if they felt disgust or revulsion or fear or arrogance at a higher level than they felt compassion and concern and love and humility.
I’m dealing with some people right now who are making it really hard for me to live what I preach and believe – and I wonder how I would react if I was in a hurry and saw one of them in such a situation. I’m sure I would stop – but I wonder what I would do if it was someone I didn’t know who appeared to be a dirty, smelly, jobless, drunken bum. Would I be the good Samaritan – or would I be one of the others who found an excuse to walk by on the other side?
More broadly, should I be seeking more diligently to find and serve those who are the modern equivalent of the poor, the lepers, the publicans, the sinners, etc.? Am I missing the point of the parable even if I do stop and help one person whose plight I can’t help but see – and is the reason I might only see “the one”, perhaps, that I don’t value “the ones” as much as I value myself and those I know and love?
Now I see what you mean.
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