The Good Samaritan and his Compassion

Ok, so you know how I said yesterday that I hadn't really been listening to the sermon? This was when I was thinking about Basement Bible Study.

Well last night as I lay in bed, I began thinking about the sermon. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the story of The Good Samaritan. Of course that was the sermon scripture. I never really think I'm getting something out of one of my Aunt Ann's sermons anymore, but let's see what I can get out of it today. I also might take it to other places too because that's what usually happens when I write about a sermon I've heard.

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan because an expert in the law asked who his neighbor was. You know the story right? If you don't, I encourage you to check out Luke 10:25-37.

When all the other men came and passed by the injured man, there was one guy who stopped; the samaritan. A priest and a Levite had also passed by, but didn't stop. Now it could be that the priest didn't stop because the man was unclean and he wasn't supposed to touch the unclean because that would make him unclean.

The one guy that did stop to help the man was actually a hated foreigner according to the notes in my Bible. Being hated didn't stop him from doing the right thing.

Now my Aunt Ann told us about a study done in the 1970s (I think). Two groups of seniors in seminary were to go to this building where one group would tell of what they were going to accomplish or such as pastors and the other group would tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Both groups had to go through a dark alleyway to get to the building.

In that alley, there was a man dressed in very little clothing who was coughing. Oh I forgot to mention that it was below zero outside when they did this experiment. So he may have been pretending at first to cough, but then actually started coughing.

Of the many people who went through the alleyway, no one stopped to help them, but some of them when getting to the building told someone in charge that there was a man out there coughing who needed medical attention.

What gets me is that these soon to be pastors didn't stop and talk to this guy. They didn't help him. But it could have been fear of what the guy might have. Maybe they were being self-centered. Who knows?

While listening to the sermon, I thought that was horrible that no one would have stopped to help the man. I thought to myself that yes, I would have asked the man to come with me.

But then last night when I was going to bed, I realized, I would have been like the rest and just tried to walk by quickly most likely out of fear of what he may have and whether or not it's contagious.

Jesus told the expert in the law to go and do like the good samaritan did. We need to be showing compassion to everyone, not just those who are friends of ours. We need to be showing compassion to those in need. We need to show compassion to everyone because we were called to go and make disciples of all nations. We're supposed to go light our world.

So go light your world. Be a good samaritan. Go out and actively, creatively, and powerfully share God's compassion.