Perhaps one of the more well-known stories in the Bible is the story of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus and recorded by Luke (Luke 10:30-37). The story emerges out of an interaction Jesus had with an expert in Jewish religious law. Perhaps seeking to impress Jesus with the nature of his question, perhaps seeking to back Jesus into a corner, he asked, “What must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus, being the fine teacher that he was, returned a question back to this learned man. “What does the Law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The reply came back, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.” Further wanting to justify his actions, perhaps to make himself appear more spiritual than his contemporaries, the expert in religious law asks one further question: “And who is my neighbor?” In response to the man’s question, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.

What is striking about the story as Jesus tells it, is the lack of concern on the part of fine, upstanding, religious people as they walk by the beaten and bleeding man on the road. The people whom you would most expect to reach out and extend a helping hand, are conspicuous by their blatant refusal to live out their religious faith in the extension of the most basic of human care and compassion for a person in obvious need. It wasn’t that they were ignorant of the need or unaware – they couldn’t help but see the need. Yet they refused to respond.

What is equally striking is the concern shown by a member of society whom you would least expect to respond. Samaritans were not respected members of society – they were outcasts and looked down upon. Had it been a Samaritan who lay on the road beaten, it would have been easier to understand the lack of compassion and care demonstrated by the fine, upstanding “religious” people. Yet, the Samaritan, the one who would have been despised by the religious leader posing the question to Jesus, is the one who emerges as the truly “spiritual” person in the story. The Samaritan, more than the religious people, demonstrated the heart of God in reaching out and taking care of the practical and tangible needs of the man beaten on the road.

God’s call to those of us who claim to embrace and live out the truths of the Bible is to not only care for the spiritual needs of people, but to be actively involved in meeting the everyday needs of people in our community as they lie “beaten” on the road of life, in need of help. One of our values as CBWC churches is “acting in mercy.” Practically speaking that means we are going to be ever mindful of the “beaten” people on our path of life, reach out and be the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out just like the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ story. In acting in mercy we will have answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?”

- Ken