Thought for the Week 30th April 2017

1.      Crossing Barriers – We may need to cross barriers that we prefer to have in place if we are to reach people that God loves.

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor 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.”

Last week, I mentioned that the parable of the Good Samaritan is both remarkably simple and extraordinarily profound.  It is simple to read and understand the message that Jesus wants us to hear but putting it into practice is a whole other thing.  If we are to join Jesus in His Mission it is vital that we allow Him to replace our ‘natural’ response to what we see around us with His ‘SuperNatural’ compassion for people who, just like us, don’t deserve God’s love and forgiveness.

And there, for me, is the ‘profound’ piece of the jigsaw puzzle.  I know that I am only saved because of Grace and yet when I look at other people I can so easily dismiss them as being people that God would not be interested in.  I can even find myself thinking things like ‘I don’t like the look of that person, so God probably doesn’t either’.  Then it hits me, ‘Who on earth do I think I am? 

This deeply profound truth ‘who do we think we are’ is at the heart of this simple parable.  The man who cared for the victim of the robbers attack was a Samaritan, an enemy of the Jews, a person who ‘naturally speaking’ should have hated him and, as the Priest and the Levite had done, crossed the road and passed by on the other side.  The one’s who thought they were something in God’s eyes did nothing!  Yet the Samaritan did exactly what God wanted.

Do you see it?  The most surprising person does the very thing that those who called themselves God’s people fail to do!

So, here is a challenge as you begin this week.  Do you think of yourself as a follower of Jesus and yet avoid the people that He has placed in your daily life or will you ask Him to open your eyes so that you can see Him at work and then Join Him in His Mission?