The Could Samaritan

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and the stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'

"Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" Jesus asked.

"The one who showed mercy toward him." Replied the lawyer.

Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."

Ah, the Good Samaritan. A familiar story for many of us, taken from the gospel of Luke. Jesus told this story in response to a question the lawyer asked him when he said, "Who is my neighbor?". Of course the lawyer responded correctly when he said, "The one who showed mercy..."

Showed mercy. In my previous entry I quoted Micah 6:8 which clearly defines God's will for us as to love kindness, or mercy. But what does it mean to show mercy? Let's have a look at the story again. What if the circumstances were different? What if the Good Samaritan had been the 'Poor Samaritan'? Would he have shown the same mercy, not having the required funds? Could he have been good? Merciful?

One thing we understand about this story is that it was written before the year 1951, so the Good Samaritan would not have had a credit card. We know that he had an animal. We don't know how long his journey was but the text states that he gave the innkeeper two denarii (one denarii being the equivalent of a full day's wage) in exchange for caring for the injured man, and promised him more upon his return.

What if the Good Samaritan were in a financial situation similar to many Christians today? Perhaps the story would read a little different after the priest and Levite had passed by...

"But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and knelt down next to him and said, 'Are you alright? You need medical attention. I'll wrap my favorite 'Jesus fish' T-shirt around your head to help slow the bleeding. Can you walk? Can you stand? Oh, the next town is a long way off. I don't have a donkey and I can't carry you. I haven't exercised in a while but I'll run as fast as I can to try and find someone to send back for you. Lord Jesus, please keep this man safe and warm until help arrives.'"

"The attitude of some Christians that achievement is wrong, growth is wrong, and wealth of any kind is wrong, is comfortable, but terribly erroneous. That is because it immediately lets them off the hook as far as life's performance is concerned. We must understand the basic principle that if we do not achieve, we will have nothing to contribute to those less fortunate." -Peter Daniels in How to be Happy Though Rich

Here's a question I ask myself and now I ask you as well, dear reader. Are you capable of showing mercy? Are you able to do it? Do you have the resources mercy requires? And then the question which naturally follows is: Are you actively merciful?

Look closely at the story. Compassion was the feeling. Mercy was the action. Compassion by itself is worthless. Compassion, just like faith without works is dead being alone.

You have got to earn to make a difference. You simply can not give what you do not have. If you don't think you're mature enough to handle a great deal of wealth, if you're haunted by 1 Timothy 6:10, if you've had a history of greed in the past then you need to pray to God that He will enable you to responsibly and benevolently manage your full portion of His glorious and unending estate.

The gospel is free but it's not cheap. Imagine how much more your church or favored ministry could accomplish if it had an extra $100,000 in the bank. How about a million dollars? Imagine the church being in a situation which didn't require constant begging of funds like a scraggly, stinky, repulsive waif holding a cardboard sign on the street corner. Imagine if every person sitting in the pew on Sunday morning was rightly giving tithes and offerings to their respective church.

We as Christians must get out of debt and mediocrity. We must renew our minds and creative imaginations according to Romans 12. Remember that conformity is cowardice. As much as some people complain about not having "any money", they stay in that state because it's comfortable. You see, innately they understand that wealth is responsibility, because if you're not equipped with a beast, some bandages, wine, oil, at least two denarii, and compassion, you can't possibly show mercy to your neighbor.