Please read Luke 10:30-37
When people read stories and when they watch
movies, they tend to identify and commiserate with certain characters in the
stories or movies. We believers do the same coming to the stories of the Bible. For
example, many identify with the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal
Son. This is natural because believers think they are good people.
Coming to the Parable of the Good Samaritan,
most of us associate ourselves with the Good Samaritan. But I ask you have you
ever thought of yourselves being the man who was beaten by the robbers and left
for dead? So let’s say that Jesus were to begin the parable of the Good
Samaritan this way -
“__________________(your name here) was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he/she
fell among robbers, who stripped him/her and beat him/her and departed, leaving
him/her half dead.” (Luke 10:30). So there you are
lying on the roadside and maybe in a “pit” half dead. (I use the word “pit”
because, in some of the paintings of the Parable, the injured man is portrayed
in a pit right next to a road.)
There you are lying badly
beaten in a pit, next to the road, and people are walking by and they look at
you and are making comments. You are so badly beaten you can’t talk – maybe
your lips move. You are looking at them hoping they will help you. But all you
see is their inaction and all you hear are their comments. What kind of
comments? Allow me to use a poem -
The Pit
A man fell into a pit and could not get
himself out.
A Subjective person came along and said,
"I feel for you down there in that pit"
An Objective person came along and said,
"It’s logical that someone would have fallen down into that pit"
A Christian Scientist came along and said,
"You only think you’re in the pit"
A Pharisee said, "only bad people fall into
the pit"
A Fundamentalist said, "You deserve
your pit"
Confucius said, "If you had listened
to me you would not be in that pit"
Buddha said, "The pit is only a state of
mind"
A Realist said, "that is a pit"
A Scientist calculated the pressure necessary
to get him out of the pit
A Geologist told him to appreciate the rock
strata in the pit
A Taxman asked him if he was paying taxes on
the pit
An inspector asked him if he had a permit to
dig the pit
An Evasive person came along and avoided the
subject of the pit altogether
A Self-pitying person said, "You haven’t
seen anything until you have seen MY PIT"
A Charismatic said, "just confess that
you are not in the pit"
An Optimist said, "It could be
worse"
A Pessimist said, "Things will get
worse"
Jesus walking along seeing the man in the pit
simply knelt down, extended his hand and pulled him out of the
pit! (Anonymous)
A pit is a dreadful place to be, especially a
pit of our own sins you and I keep digging with our head down. But the good news is we are not left lying
in the pit.
As a hymn goes –
How kind the Good Samaritan
To him who fell among the thieves!
Thus Jesus pities fallen man,
And heals the wounds the soul receives.
(link
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/newton/olneyhymns.h1_99.html)
Yes, only one person is able and willing to
help us from the pit you and I are in. He does not do this because we are good.
He does this because He is good.
Thank you, God for sending me your Son who came
down to lift me from my pit. In His name, I thank and praise you. Amen!
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