"The Parable of the Good Samaritan"
by Mark E Crossley

Most Sundays at Donington Park Racing Circuit there is a Sunday Market with lots of bargains to be had. Last Sunday some travellers were legally purchasing yet illegally shooting pellets from BB guns in public with several hundred shoppers near at innocent passers by hurting people and animals which is totally unacceptable.

You may call me brave or foolish yet I followed them around, filmed them on my video camera on the mobile phone and challenged the 6 guys still videoing them and told them if they did not leave I would call the police. They threatened to beat me up but quite easily could have shot me with the gun like they did to others.

Luckily for me 5 minutes later they left however it was sad the police and market security did not take this incident seriously however at least someone stood up to these thugs.

This reminds me of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10 v 25 37 which I will summarise below:

Jesus challenges us to love your neighbour as you would yourself before he shares of a man who is not identified walking from Jerusalem to Jericho who came into contact with some robbers who beat him up, took his clothes and left him nearly dead. Charming hey!

There were three men who passed the man by:

Firstly: A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
Secondly: A Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Thirdly: However, a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

All to often in the world we live in the innocent normally get punished and the guilty get off lightly especially in the UK so there seems now to be a culture developing fast sadly that it easier not to get involved if you see something adverse happening and be like the priest and Levite.

Good Samaritans seem to be few and far between and in the minority it would appear yet as Jesus says above "Go and do likewise" as the Samaritan did so can we find comfort and encouragement in this so who knows what outcomes can happen if people do help people.


Questions we can ask ourselves and discuss with a pastor or house group:

Which of the above are you most like; the priest, the Levite or the Good Samaritan?
Do you think you are a Good Samaritan?
What situations have you intervened in and what was the outcome?
Will doing good get me into heaven?
What effects could happen if their were more Good Samaritans in our world helping the unemployed, homeless, prostitutes, shoplifters and people involved in crime, domestic violence? What can us as believers do to minister to these vulnerable people?
Do you find it hard to help others if you have never been helped yourself?
If you saw an awful situation or knew of something happening to a church member would you help them or just think of yourself, if so would you then require help from the church if something happened to you? Challenge your heart about giving and receiving!
Do you want to be a Good Samaritan yet find it hard? Is now the right place and time for you to be effective or do you need to get yourself sorted first before you look outward?

Lord Jesus, I pray that as we read the above two stories a seed will be put into some Christian's hearts to challenge the Christian community to be more like the Samaritan than the priest or the Levite.

I pray a new generation of Samaritans will be raised up around the globe, they will be anointed with gifts, tools and relevant resources to make a difference that in the ordinary more extraordinary things will happen with testimonies being placed by the day here on faith writers to encourage those i.e. "Blessed to be a blessing!" in Jesus name. Amen.

If you have any comments, queries or suggestions regarding this article please do not hesitate to contact me by email at 
[email protected]. Thank You.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com







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