Just Passing By
(from the series: Get off your Donkey)
Luke 10:30-32
INTRODUCTION:
This is the second in a 5 week series we’re doing called “Get off Your Donkey.” We’re taking time to focus on one of the most well known stories Jesus told: The Good Samaritan. Last week Richard talked about the CHOICE we make to help someone or to pass on by and do nothing.Today we’re going to focus on the two guys who made that second choice. They chose to pass on by.
Luke 10:30-32 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.
Last week in our Pueblo group we were talking about Good Samaritan experiences we remember. One lady said years back she was coming down from her second story apartment to walk her dog when she fell down the stairs. She twisted her ankle badly and was lying there all scraped up and bleeding … and of course the dog ran off.
No one was around, but then she saw a lady walking down the sidewalk.
She called out, “Ma’am I need help. Could you help me back into my apartment, or go to the office and send someone to help me?”
The lady said, “No, I can’t. There’s blood all over the place and I don’t want to get involved.”
A few minutes later another lady and her son came by. That lady stopped to help her up while her boy ran to catch the run-away dog. Then the good Samaritan went to the office to get more help.
The story Jesus told is something that could really happen. In fact, it does really happen all the time.
When we hear the story of the Good Samaritan, we tend to look down on the Priest and Levite for being so heartless and selfish. But let’s take a second look and ask: Is there ever a legitimate reason to stay on your donkey and pass on by?
Before I lived in San Antonio, I was part of a Christian Church in a little town off the beaten path called Arcadia, Texas. At that point in my life I had a simple plan for what to do when someone asked me for help. They asked – I helped. It usually happened about 2 or 3 times a year and I often knew the people needing help. I’d just take care of it out of my wallet or using my time.
Then I moved to the big city - to our church which was right in the middle of the beaten path. My first week here, I was hit up by 6 people I didn’t know and by the end of the week I’d pulled over $150.00 out of my wallet. Of course word spread that there was an easy touch at our church, so the line started forming at my office door! I took the problem to the elders and that’s where our Helping Hands fund had its beginnings – including forms to fill out and other methods to keep professional panhandlers at bay.
Around that time I read an article in the Leadership Magazine about how to help without being taken advantage of. One point in that article has stayed with me through the years. It said, “If you hear a sad story from someone wanting financial help, the more complicated the story, the less likely it is to be true.”
Well I’ve heard plenty of complicated stories. I remember one I heard that first week I was here from a guy with a Bronx accent. It was a tangled tale that included being robbed at the airport and a moving truck and the KOA Campground in New Braunfels and being stranded at Immaculate Word College and it ended with a need for $47. That guy had me running all over town. And the funniest thing is, the same guy called me 8 years later and the price had gone up to $74. Inflation, I guess!
Well, experiences like that have made me a little more cynical. I now understand that it’s not always a good idea to get off my donkey. Maybe you’ve been burned a time or two and, like me, you’re older but wiser. Maybe that’s how the Priest and the Levite were in the story Jesus told. I’m sure they had some logical reasons to pass on by when they saw the man bleeding by the side of the road.
1. Defilement: One of the likely reasons these men passed on by is that they could have disqualified themselves from temple service by handling blood or a dead body. For a Priest or Levite, Temple Work is a career job. Helping the injured man would have made them ceremonially unclean. They had places to go and ministry to perform … for God no less! Surely that was more important than helping some stranger by the road.
2. Danger: Another likely reason they passed on by was that this stretch of road was dangerous for travelers. The picture on screen shows how the road between Jerusalem and Jericho looks now. This was a road people avoided if they could because it was a hilly, winding road out in the middle of no-where. They knew about the thieves and robbers who hid out along this road.
If the Priest and Levite had more time or money, they’d have avoided the road altogether. As it was, they wanted to get this part of the trip over as fast as they could. No doubt, they had even heard of gangs who would set up a trap by placing a seemingly injured person (who was actually part of the gang) by the side of the road. Then, when an unsuspecting person stopped to give aid, the rest of the gang would pounce upon the hapless rescuer and turn him into their next victim.
The Priest and Levite were too savvy fall for that kind of trick.
Those kinds of things still happen. A while back I read an email about a trick that car-jackers would pull on unsuspecting victims by pulling up behind a car stopped at a light and doing a bumper tap just hard enough to get the driver ahead to step out of the car to examine his rear bumper. When he got out, they would rush out with guns drawn and one of them would get in the other car and drive it off as the driver stood there in the street.
(Not even a month later a car behind me bumper tapped me at a light, and I panicked. I saw that the intersection was clear and shot through the intersection even though the light was still red.) Maybe the Priest and Levite had just read a warning email that made them nervous…)
3. Delay: It is possible that the reason these two passed on by was as simple a matter as time constraints. They were on a schedule. Maybe they were running late. Frequently we find ourselves held captive to tight schedules.
We’re juggling work or school and home and kids and church and doctor visits and bill-paying and on and on and on. It feels like we’re racing through our days and can’t ever catch up. We’ve got our poor old donkeys running full speed ahead. We don’t have time to even notice the guy by the side of the road, much less stop and give a helping hand.
It’s easy to see the Priest and Levite had at least 3 logical reasons to walk on by. We can blast them for their choices, but the truth is we can also identify with their choices. I know I can’t say “yes” to everyone who asks me for something. I can’t do everything anyone asks me to do. None of us can! The fact is that everything you say “yes” to is something else you had to say “no” to.
We’ve all seen folks who say “yes” to all kinds of career or community causes while neglecting their own families. It’s possible to say “yes” to some request while saying “no” to the very things God has commanded us to do.
There are times when “helping” is not really “helping” at all. We’ve all seen people who are “enablers.” They supposedly “help” people but they are actually hurting the very people they are trying to help. This happens when parents “help” their kids by protecting them from the consequences of their bad choices. This is the problem when “helping” someone who is addicted actually helps to feed their destructive addiction.
Obviously we shouldn’t indiscriminately dole out time and money to anyone and everyone along life’s road. But at the same time, we don’t want to miss the opportunities that God puts along our path! So how do we know when to help and how to help?
We can start by asking the right question. In John 9 we read about a time when Jesus’ disciples came upon a man who had been born blind. They immediately asked the WRONG question. “Who sinned, causing this man to be born blind?”
It’s the same wrong question we often ask when we see someone in need. “Who’s to blame for this? Did they bring this on themselves?” What we’re really asking is, “Do they deserve my help?”
Jesus essentially told his disciples, “Wrong question!” Instead, Jesus gave a different way to look at the circumstances of life. He said, “This happened in order to bring glory to God.”
So when we come across needs along life’s roads, rather than asking, “Who’s to blame?” Or even “Should I help?” We can ask, “How can this situation bring glory to God?”
Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We don’t want to miss ANY opportunity to do the good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do! The secret is that we should never travel life’s road alone. When we are walking with Christ, the Holy Spirit will give us discernment. We will know when to help and how to help each person along the way.
I’ve noticed that I tend to miss opportunities when I go through the day on my own, rather than walking in close communication with Christ. So many times I look back and see the opportunity I missed because --- at the time --- I was too focused on MY plan for the day. I forgot to give God permission to interrupt MY plans with HIS plans.
What might happen this week if each day we became radically available for whatever God puts in our path? What if we look above our busy schedule and invite God to interrupt us with the good works that he has planned in advance for us to do…?
CONCLUSION:
Have you ever prayed a prayer like this? “God I have certain plans for today, but if you want to interrupt them so I can do what You have planned for me today. Just make me aware of the opportunity before I pass on by and miss it. Make me sensitive to your leading and aware of your gentle nudge to action in your behalf. Let Jesus rise up within me and be all that he wants to be in and through me for your glory. God, I want to be radically available to anything You add to my schedule.”
Will God answer a prayer like that? Try it and see what He will do in and through you. Your opportunity to get off your donkey may be only a prayer away.
This month we are calling the people of this church --- as individuals and as a congregation --- to see what we’ve ignored before … to rise up to opportunities we’ve missed, and to see the hurting with the heartbeat of God’s love and compassion. The Good Samaritan had that heart beat; do you?
