The people around these days have so much animosity for each other, it really saddens me. What would seem as a friendly greeting from a stranger could be met with comments that the person greeting is crazy and doesn't know who he's talking to. C'mon man, just harmless attempts to brighten up the day for one another can be met with such far-fetched accusations? Of course, it doesn't happen all the time, because at the end of the day some people would recognise that effort and return you the favour.
Well anyways, I randomly pushed my finger through the book during the weekend, and it led me to the Parable of the Good Samaritan(Luke 10:25-37).
This story really struck me hard, in that it portrayed the Jewish priest and Levite as being cold-blooded people who'd rather walk the other path than to help the dying man lying on the original path.
Because Jesus spoke this parable to a Jewish lawyer, who wanted to test Jesus and justify himself, I suppose this parable is used to highlight that this priest would rather go to all lengths to keep the Law of Moses, and save the hassle of doing all the cleansing for the dying man with blood on his skin(Leviticus 15:1-15) and nursing his wounds, than to do what is morally right in both God and men's eyes - to offer first aid to the dying man. Hence this shows the blind faith of the Jewish people in that time. (I don't know about the Jews of today, but this is lifted off the Bible)
In this, the Samaritan fared much better than the priest and Levite. This must have been a shameful thing to an expert in the law, because Samaritans were despised by Jews, yet a person whose background and heritage were treated as inferior to the Jews could actually be much kinder to his neighbour. From this, I see that the Samaritan indeed showed love to the dying man by taking all the trouble to treat his wounds with oil and wine, bring him back to the inn, and ensured that all his needs were met by paying for his lodging. Now, isn't that good when you have someone to take care of all your needs when you are at your worst?
As Christians, we do in fact enjoy this benefit of the grace and mercy of the Lord, in that he loves us enough to die on the cross for us, paying the price of sin in order to redeem us, just as the Samaritan paid the money to the innkeeper, so that we may be taken care of. We didn't deserve it, just as the man did not deserve any help from the good Samaritan, but he did so willingly, just as God provided for us, and still is to this day, providing for our every need.
Even though the Samaritan had so much to carry that he needed his donkey to carry it, he took the trouble to attend to a dying man, which isn't a small feat in those days. Indeed, loving our neighbour is sometimes tough - he may hurt you so badly you couldn't even walk, but Jesus was able to love us even though we sin against Him. While we were still sinning, He died for us as an ultimate example of loving our neighbours as ourselves.So, what better way to learn how to love our neighbours than through Him?
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