Instructive Moment About Love

The descriptions of the two men who "walked on the other side" is priceless. Today the excuses might be different... if I help and this person dies, I'll have a lawsuit on my hands. I'm running late for an interview and if I arrive disheveled I'll never get the job. I'm sure there's someone much more qualified to help, I'll call 911, it's their job anyway. And the most prevalent excuse of all... this is none of my business. I'll say a prayer for them, it's all I can do.

Just living in New York City practically condemns everyone of this lack of love for neighbor. There are too many neighbors to love, too many in need. We have programs in place to help the homeless, feed the hungry, but none of them speak to the issue of our lifting our own fingers to personally help. I'm as guilty as the next person, no doubt about it. Fear gets in the way. The need for life to be pleasant and uncomplicated gets in the way. I might get my habit dirty.

Jesus was well aware of the stigma Samaritans lived with. They were considered traitors to the true faith. They had intermarried with Assyrians, in direct defiance of God's law. Their list of transgressions was so long nobody in their right mind would be caught dead associating with them. Yet Jesus chose this man to be the hero. I think it's unfortunate that the story has come to be called "The Good Samaritan" as if he were the only good one, the exception that proved the rule.

This story is so pointed that it's almost too uncomfortable to look at. Essentially he's saying that "Good Christians" who know their Bible chapter and verse aren't worth a hill of beans unless they put into practice, up close and personal, his teachings. And that heathens, who do practice compassion for their neighbors, those who are supposedly going to hell because they haven't accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, are the ones who will have eternal life.

Gire's prayer says it all... that the smallest act of kindness is better than the greatest of kind intentions. But we can't sit smugly in that place either. We need many small acts of kindness, no matter how inconvenient, how unscheduled.