One fact that’s been burned into my consciousness as much as any other is that society is full of hurting people. And each of us has a choice to make: Will we help or harm those who are hurting?
Want to know how the hurting in our society view Christians? Well, the answer is mixed and not all that encouraging. Here is a sampling of information pertinent to this question:
- The percentage of Americans comfortable identifying themselves with Christianity continues to fall rapidly. As of 2019, the percentage stands at 65% (and this includes self-described Christians of all denominations and affiliations), down from 78% the last twelve years. (Pew Research finding, 2019).
- Just over half of Americans (56%) have a generally “warm” view of evangelical Christians (Pew Research finding, 2019). Evangelicals rate lower than Jews, Catholics, and mainline Protestants.
- Almost 80 percent of surveyed Americans think Christianity “is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people.” (LifeWay Research, 2008) *Note that this statistic is about 13 years old. One can safely imagine that the percentage is higher today*
A high percentage of Americans, in various other surveys, associate political activism (often angry), hypocrisy, scandal, and annoyance with self-professed Christians. And they aren’t wrong. That’s the sad truth.
Our society is full of hurting people and they don’t necessarily have full confidence in the Christian church to address their pain with compassion, grace, and sensitivity.
Can we blame them?
Well, for those who may protest that it’s important we stand for truth and not compromise biblical principles (and, for what it’s worth, I agree), I would ask that we consider one of the best lessons on love and compassion given in the Scriptures. That lesson of course is Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37, NKJV
Let’s set aside, for now, the question of whether Jesus is teaching that doing good works is the way to inherit eternal life — in other words, “works-based salvation.” I say “no,” but elaborating on that will require another blog post.
I’m also going to refrain from comment on the priest and Levite, except to say that these were the very ones who (based on the realities and expectations of Jesus’s day) should have helped the man in need.
Here, I simply want to look at Jesus’s call for active, intentional compassion and love.
When I reflect on the parable of the Good Samaritan, here are the principles I see:
Loving God is the basis of your Identity and Purpose
Your identity is based on the fact that God created you and loves you. Your purpose is based on the fact that God has a plan and a purpose for you.
Jesus identifies the hero of this story as a “certain Samaritan.” That is the man’s racial and ethnic identity. And it’s how the people of Jesus’s day (especially those among Jesus’s audience) would indeed view this man.
But the entire context of this parable is a lawyer’s question about how we can inherit eternal life with God. In the ensuing conversation, Jesus and the lawyer agree that the greatest commandments are (as Jesus Himself had taught) to a) “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and b) love “your neighbor as yourself.”
It’s crucial therefore that we see this parable as a teaching on RELATIONSHIPS — with our first relationship being to God. Understanding this truth is fundamental to understanding the parable.
Remember: Your identity and worth stem from the fact that God created you in His image.
And your primary relationship should be with your Creator. We are called to love God, our Creator, with ALL of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. That love should form the basis of our identity, perspective, outlook, direction in life, and all the choices we make.
Perhaps the greatest problem we face in our society today is we are now defining our identities, perspectives, values, and priorities — and informing our opinions and conduct — on ourselves either as individuals or as part of a group of other human beings.
Loving your Neighbor should be the primary activity of your life
Jesus says we will be known by our love (John 13:35) and Paul says we should “do good to all, especially those of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Loving others and doing good to others therefore should be the fundamental undercurrent of our life story.
God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). We show our love for God by worshiping and glorifying Him (Romans 15:6, I Corinthians 6:20) and by loving and serving those He created (Matthew 22:37-39, I John 4:11 and 19, James 1:27 and 2:18).
We are to love our neighbor.
And we are to show that love by our words and conduct. And lest there be any doubt, as Jesus makes clear in this parable, your “neighbor” isn’t just the person living next door to your house or across the street. Your “neighbor” is anyone in the path of your life.
Compassion is a sign of Love
If you love your fellow human being, then you will have compassion for everyone in your life, especially those who are hurting. And (spoiler alert) everyone is hurting to some degree.
To illustrate this, Jesus tells the story of this Samaritan traveler who comes upon a man who had been robbed and beaten. In Jesus’ words, this gang of thieves attacked this man, “stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”
Speaking of the Samaritan, Jesus explains that “when he saw him, he had compassion.”
A quick side note here. It isn’t practical or possible to “see” everyone in the world who is currently suffering. You and I are human and we can only be at one place at one time. A good rule of thumb, though, is to recognize that this world is full of hurting people. And while we can’t see (and therefore practically assist) everyone on planet Earth, we can at least have a realization that the world is full of suffering.
Never make an assumption that reality is based on your knowledge, awareness, and perspective.
Your knowledge and awareness don’t dictate reality, but they DO speak to your responsibility.
We are responsible for that which we are aware and for those matters for which we can do something.
When the Good Samaritan saw this man, he had compassion on him. Do you have compassion for those in your life who are hurting?
Acting on your Compassion puts Love into Action
The priest and Levite may have had some degree of intellectual “compassion” for the hurting — at least in the abstract. But in practice, they were content to look the other way and walk past someone who was hurting and who was actually in their path of life.
We aren’t called to love in the abstract. We’re called to love in reality.
We also aren’t called to simply point out the problems. We’re called to do something about the problems.
In his excellent book Christians in the Age of Outrage: How to Bring Our Best When the World Is at Its Worst, Ed Stetzer writes: “The world is filled with people who will stand on the sidelines and point out the problems.” But we don’t need sideline spectators. We need people willing to do something about the problems of this world, especially when those problems affect hurting people.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, puts it quite bluntly in his epistle:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James 2:14-17, NKJV
At this point, some difficult questions arise.
It’s simply not within our capacity to help all those in the path of our life to the extent that they often want (or sometimes demand) that we help them. Even Jesus, at times, withdrew from crowds who were coming to Him for help or healing. We can’t do everything and there are times when we must establish boundaries.
Walking this line requires wisdom, and for that, we should turn to God in prayer (James 1:5). And also (I would say) to the book of Proverbs. And I’ve found this verse in Proverbs quite helpful in knowing when, how, and to what extent we should help those in need:
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
Proverbs 3:27, NKJV
When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
When presented with someone in need — someone hurting — either by coming upon the situation or when someone reaches out and asks for help, ask yourself these questions:
- Will my help or assistance truly be “good”? Sometimes what people ask of us isn’t really good (as defined by God). For example, a person asking for money so they can buy more booze to get themselves drunk.
- Is this person “due” this kind of help or assistance? It’s sad but the world is full of scammers who take advantage of those who have compassion. As a pastor, I can tell you that many people often cheat churches. Exercising some wisdom and discernment in how you help people is always appropriate.
- Is it “within the power” of your “hand” to help? In other words, do you have the capacity to actually help? If someone were to ask me for $100,000 for some financial need, I can tell you this: Even if the need were legitimate, I don’t have the capacity (at least at the time of this writing) to honor that request. I just don’t. So, it’s not within my “power” to help – at least not to the level of being asked (in this hypothetical example). That’s a financial example of capacity, but capacity also includes your emotional, spiritual, and physical capacity — as well as sometimes your intellectual or professional capacity.
In the case of this parable, the Good Samaritan had the time, the capacity, and the ability to help. And it was therefore his responsibility to do so. And he did.
God’s blessings equip you for your calling
There’s an old saying: “God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called.” One might say He does both, but be that as it may, it’s a fact that God blesses us in order to use us. And, since He’s God and we’re here for His glory, He has a right to use us. In fact, we should be honored that He even wants to use us.
We are all given certain talents, resources, gifts, opportunities, and privileges. And we’re given these things primarily so we can dedicate them back to God and use them for His glory — which includes loving Him and loving others.
In the case of the Good Samaritan, he had money. From the story, we can surmise that he was likely a traveling businessman of some sort — perhaps a trader. We don’t know. But we know he traveled and apparently did so frequently. We also know he was a man of means.
Not only did he pay for the man’s lodging and medical care (at the hands of the innkeeper) but also offered reimbursement for any additional expenses until the man fully recovered.
Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister known as “the Iron Lady,” famously quipped: “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money, too.”
There’s some solid wisdom to that quip. Without money, the assistance provided by the Samaritan would have been seriously limited.
Nevertheless, whatever you may think of Thatcher’s economic or political views (or the implications of her quote), it’s a fact that God expects us to use that which He blesses us with to glorify Him and serve others. Addressing economic blessings specifically, Paul said this to the church in Ephesus:
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
Ephesians 4:28, NKJV
In other words, we’re not to get ahead financially through dishonest gain or thievery, but rather through diligent and honest work. And the purpose of our work isn’t to accumulate large fortunes for money’s sake, but rather to “give him who has need.”
By helping this man in need, the Good Samaritan was honoring God with what God had blessed him with.
Do you help or hurt those who are hurting?
There are many more lessons of course from the Good Samaritan. I’ve chosen to focus on the ones above. But one thing I want to ask that we all consider as we wrap up this blog post, and that is…
Do we help or hinder the love God has for people?
Put another way, are we more apt to help those in need or pile on the hurt instead?
In Christians in the Age of Outrage, Stetzer talks about a pastor who felt convicted to start seeing people more through the lens of a doctor instead of a judge!
That’s powerful.
How about it?
Do you see the people in your life as hurting people who are loved by God and worthy of your compassion and help? Or are you more inclined to judge them for what you see or perceive as their improper actions, decisions, choices, or views?
I certainly believe in upholding the truth of God’s word and standing against injustice and sin. But at the same time, I recognize that I myself am a flawed human being who owes his relationship to God not to my own merits but to the grace of Almighty God.
Based on what God has done for me, I don’t want people to know me as an angry judge but rather as a caring physician – not in the literal sense of course, since I have no medical training or experience. But in the sense that Jesus meant by this wonderful story.
I want to show the love of God through my compassion and conduct.
As Bob Pierce, founder of the Christian charity organization Samaritan’s Purse, once declared: “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”
May that indeed be said of each one of us.
May God bless you.
