The parable of the Good Samaritan has been covered recently in our TFTD. It is a well-known story and one you might remember hearing as a child in school assemblies or Sunday School.
We are using this story in our next Messy Church when we think about love. Jesus had told this story in reply to the question, “who is my neighbour?” At the end of the story, Jesus asks the man, “well who do you think was the good neighbour, to the man in need, the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan?” “The Samaritan of course. He was the one who showed mercy.”
I want to think about this story from the point of view of the victim, the man who was beaten up and robbed and left for dead. We don’t often think of the story from this angle.
He was a Jew who would have avoided foreigners, particularly Samaritan’s at all costs. There he was laying in the dirt, battered and bruised, frightened and anxious, bleeding and hurt. The priest comes along – this guy will help. He’s in the caring profession. No. The Levite comes along – he will know what to do, he knows the law. No.
The Samaritan comes along, dusty, tired, dishevelled, speaking a “foreign” language, looking different, “unclean”. Do I accept help from him? The man would have felt uncomfortable, uneasy, a fear of the unclean and the consequences of contact with this man who has taken the time and effort to stop and rescue him.
How easy do we find it to accept help from people who are different from us, someone who looks different or who speaks a different language?
What prejudices do we hold?
What is our response when someone unexpected comes to our aid?
Prayer: Loving and compassionate God, you tell us to love you with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbour as we love ourself. Help us to be gracious to those who offer to help, to accept the hand of love, whatever the colour, whatever the culture, whatever the language. And may we, equally, hold out the hand of love and compassion to our neighbour whoever he or she is. AMEN