Walk on By

Living near a big city you tend to see all sorts of things. Once when a friend of mine and I went into the city we were walking down the street in what my mother would have called “the wrong part of town”. Suddenly we saw someone lying on the sidewalk ahead of us. 

Instinctively I said, “We need to help that person” but my friend said, “no, let someone else help him”. So we crossed the street on the other side of the road and continued on. Later that night I couldn’t help but think about that person on the sidewalk. Were they homeless and sleeping? Were they sick and needed a doctor? Was he drunk? I didn’t find out and never knew because we didn't stop. 

In the Bible there is a similar story about some people who did not stop to help someone they saw on the side of the road. It is called the Good Samaritan and is found in Luke 10:29-37. 

In this story there was a man who was robbed and left for dead on the side of the road. Two people passed by, a priest and a Levite, and they did not stop to help him and, like we did, passed on the other side of the road. 

Now the priest and the Levite were both religious men and upstanding in their communities. They of all people should have stopped to help the man. We will never know just why the men didn’t stop because there were no details in the Bible. Maybe they thought the man might be drunk or have some contagious disease. 

Now the third person who passed by had pity on the man and stopped to help him. The story points out that he was a Samaritan. In that time Samaritans didn’t socialize with the Jewish because they had several religious, ethic and political conflicts. So, considering the injured man was Jewish, the Samaritan should have been the last person to stop and help, but he did. 

Helping others has been engrained in our minds in the Old and New Testament. God repeatedly commands us to help the underprivileged. Deuteronmy 15:11 says, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land’”.

When the priest and the Levite passed by, were they thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to? Did they think they were better than the injured man lying on the side of the road? Did they look down on him? Is that why they didn’t stop?  Romans 12:3 says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”. Meaning no one has the right to think that they are better than anyone else, but sometimes we do.   

When my friend and I saw the person ahead lying on the sidewalk, we should have been filled with compassion rather than filled with repulsion. We should have called the police, or an ambulance. Looking back on this situation now I would have done a lot of things differently than we did initially. 

As Christ followers, God calls us to have compassionate hearts. If it would have been Jesus walking by, of course he would have helped, not even thinking twice about it. We need to be more like him, compassionate, loving Christians. 

Thinking more about this makes me want to go right out and help someone. In a selfish world we need to think more about Galatians 5:22, the Fruit of the Spirit, showing love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Of these “fruits” we should show several of them when helping others.

So, the next time this incident happens, if it ever does, I know now that I will stop and I will help those in need. My faith in Christ makes it so.

Dear God, help us to be more loving, compassionate people toward our fellow man. Help us to be like Jesus and help others. Amen