“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:36-37 [NIV]
It is a beautiful thing to see love in action. It is hard not to cry at some of the Children In Need films of the plight of people in poor countries, and how they have been helped.
If instead we just heard someone saying how important it was that we helped these people, without any story or video, it would not have nearly the same impact.
Similarly, by painting the picture of the man attacked by robbers in the Good Samaritan story (see yesterday for text), Jesus moves the discussion about love and being a neighbour from the head to the heart. He moves it from the expert’s comfort zone of talking about legal theory, to an example of love in action.
We may often hear that love is a doing word, and Jesus finishes his encounter with the Expert in the Law with the instruction to “go and do likewise”. I think it is difficult to “do” though if your heart is not engaged.
In our country, we are so privileged that we don’t often see such extreme need, yet needs exist in different forms, such as loneliness or relationship breakdown. If today you feel that your heart is not stirred to act, it may be a case of taking a similarly risky path as the one from Jerusalem to Jericho, where you will more likely see others need for yourself.
Jon Seaton
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