A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him for dead beside the road.
By chance a priest came along and saw the man lying there, he crossed over to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.
It was a late night about a year back and I needed to stay awake but there was no Yankees encore game to watch so I found myself watching Real Time with Bill Maher. I know, I know, it isnt one of my proudest moments but it is what it is. Anyways, he had a segment near the end called Republican bubble boy. There was this guy inside a bubble who could see what was happening around him but was receiving no audio so he couldnt really understand what he was seeing. This was supposedly symbolic of the typical republican voter who can see whats messed up with America but his understanding of why it was that way is completely skewed.
Sometimes I wonder if that is how I go through life. Is it possible that I am walking around in a bubble? Can I see the problems and the needs around me but, because my mind is somewhere else, or my ears are listening to someone else, or my vision is focused on someone else, I dont truly understand my responsibility to meet them? If I drive by someone stranded on the side of the road but dont even stop and check if there is anything I can do, am I living my life just like that priest or the Levite?
There were three men who walked by that road. There were three different ways they saw that victim but when you get down to it, there were only two responses. The first of those three is the one we would think would be best positioned to help. According to Hebrews 5, the role of the Old Testament priest is to intercede before God for man. They are to stand before God on behalf of the needs of man. If there ever was a man who needed someone to intercede on their behalf, it was that poor guy beaten and bleeding on the Jericho road. We dont know which way this priest was going but we know that the Jericho road was the main highway into and out of Jerusalem. It is very likely that he was either coming to or leaving from a time of ministry. He was about to or just finished leading people into the presence of God. In his defense I would like to think that his mind was so focused on the things of God that, although his eyes saw that man his mind never noticed a thing.
The Levite doesnt get any such pass. While the scripture says that the priest saw him and walked by, the Levite, the Temple Assistant, walked over and looked at him. More than just his eyes seeing this victim, his mind recognized the need. By he was a good Temple assistant. He recognized that in order for him to properly assist the priest in Temple worship, he needed to be ceremonially pure. If he decided to help this poor guy on the side of the road, and then this guy dies on the way, then he would not be able to perform his role in Temple worship. The needs of this one man heading in the wrong direction must be sacrificed for the benefit of the many who are truly seeking God.
Then there was the good Samaritan. He saw with his eyes, he understood with his mind, but then he broke in his heart. He felt compassion. Sometimes I think we can become so inundated with need in our technologically savvy, globally connected world that we have stopped truly seeing. Every day there is conflict between Israel and Palestine, between India and Pakistan, riots in Greece, refugees in the Sudan. We see and hear so much tragedy that even when something does break through our consciousness like a guy eating someones face off our response is either: A) The Zombie Apocolypse has begun, or B) Stay away from those bath salts.
Dear God, pop my bubble. Break down my wall of security so that I will not just see with my eyes but also hear and understand and truly break for the needs of a world around me that desperately needs you. Dont let me get so focused on doing church or serving inside its walls that I dont even truly notice the many around me that You have placed within my power to reach.
