The Good Samaritan

The story of the Good Samaritan is found in Luke 10:30-37. If you grew up going to Sunday School, you probably know this story by memory. The story is that a man was going to Jericho. He was robbed, beaten, and left half-dead by the side of the road. Three men passed by him, but only the last one stopped to do something.

Now when I think of this story, I remember there was a hospital in Dallas that had a huge mural painting of this story on one of their walls. It was beautiful. But as pretty as that picture was, it doesn’t tell the full story. This man probably looked horrible. He probably didn’t smell very nice. A lot of things are just not able to be captured in a beautiful painting.

The part of the story I love most is found in verse 33. It says the Good Samaritan felt compassion. And that compassion caused him to take action.

Compassion should always move us to action! The Good Samaritan bound up the man’s wounds and paid for him to stay at the inn. Compassion will cost us something – time and money.

And that’s the question we should all ask ourselves. Are we willing to take the time to heal someone’s wounds, and are we willing to share of our resources?

We live in a broken world. We pass by hurting people every day. May God help us to take action! May God cause us to feel compassion for a world that desperately needs His love!