Saturday: Day 28

Luke 10:36: “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

  

            Remember Eeyore in The House at Pooh Corner?

  

            One day Pooh and Rabbit were dropping Pooh Sticks over the bridge, and then running to the other side of the bridge and watching them go by. Again and again they did this. And as they were preparing to drop another stick, they saw Eeyore floating on his back down the river. They asked Eeyore whatever he was doing.

  

            Eeyore said, “I’ll give you three guesses, Rabbit. Digging holes in the ground? Wrong. Leaping from branch to branch of a young oak-tree? Wrong. Waiting for somebody to help me out of the river? Right.”

  

            Waiting for somebody to help me out of the river.

  

            Eeyore was helplessly and hopelessly floating down the river, with nobody to help him out. Someone needed to help him. Someone needed to save him from the river’s flow.

  

            So Pooh and Rabbit figured that if they dropped rocks close enough to Eeyore they would cause waves that would gently bring Eeyore to the shore, and save him. The first rock, of course, hit Eeyore right in the stomach and sank him. But eventually the rocks made enough little waves to bring Eeyore to the shore so that he could be saved.

  

            Jesus tells the story of a man who was beaten, and left by the side of the road, helplessly and hopelessly unable to help himself, and ignored by the religious priest and Levite who piously avoided helping him.

  

            But a Samaritan, a Good Samaritan, stopped, went to him, bandaged his wounds, put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, took care of him, and paid for his care. The Good Samaritan helped the wounded man out of the “river.” And Jesus asks, “Which one of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” It was the Good Samaritan.

  

            There are people whom you pass by every day who are floating helplessly and hopelessly down the river of life. There are people whom you pass by every day that are hurt by the side of the road; struggling with the complexities of life, lost and alone, and dealing with emotional, relational, financial, or addiction issues. They often don’t know how they’re going to make it through the day, much less make it through the next week or month.

  

            The Good Samaritan didn’t help everyone. That would have been far too big of a task. But he did help someone; someone that was placed in his path.

  

            Are there people in your path? Do you know of someone (like Eeyore) who is waiting for somebody to help them out of the river?

  

            Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”

  

Questions to Ponder

   

• · Who are the people in your path? Is there a possibility that they are there for you to help; to stop, to go, to bring, to care for, to lend a hand? While you can’t help everybody, is there someone you can help?
•  · It’s often said that a local congregation is not defined by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity. How is your congregation sending people to bind up, to help, and to heal?

  

Prayer for Today: Gracious God, open my eyes. Loving Jesus, open my heart. Holy Spirit, open my hands. Direct me, lead me, guide me to do your will and to see and to serve those on my path through life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.