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In a recent YouTube video, a man did a very dangerous thing.
A pelican had landed on the handrail of a pier. He crept up behind the large bird, and as it opened its wings to fly away, he grasped it by the leg and tackled it to the ground.
The man’s act wasn’t one of aggression. Rather, it was an act of salvation. He risked his own safety (for pelicans can be very dangerous) for the benefit of the bird. The animal had fishing line wrapped around its beak. It needed to be cut away or the bird would starve and die.
The point in this is that the pier was crowded with people. Anyone could have done this, but only one man had the courage to take the risk and save a life.
Jesus started a story in Luke 10:30. It opens like this:
“Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.’ ”
Jesus goes on to give examples of three men who traveled down the same road, and each of the men saw the half-dead man differently. The priest avoided him completely, even to moving to the other side of the road. The Levite at least looked at him, but his concern wasn’t enough to make him stop. It was the Samaritan, the man’s cultural enemy, who stopped to provide him aid.
Which traveler are we? Do we see hurting people and think, not my problem? Do we choose to help only those in our social class? Do we think our taxes provide a social safety net, and that’s the limit of our responsibility?
In Verse 37, Jesus says:
“Go, and do likewise.”
When we take a risk to help those in need, God’s love will flow from us unto them with a mighty rushing torrent.
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