He Had Compassion
Once upon a time, Whitney and I were on our way to worship with our Riverside family on a Sunday morning. We were driving on HWY 431 in a torrential downpour and passed a man walking in the direction we were driving. He had on an army green jacket with a tightly packed backpack. I was driving and was planning to continue on our way as I needed to get to the building and organize some before preaching. Not even sure I noticed the guy but Whitney did. Whitney insisted on us turning around to check on him. To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with the thought but I did as I was told. As the man sat down in our car, one of us asked him where he was headed. He responded that he was trying to get to the Church of Christ just up the road. Yes, it was the Riverside Church of Christ. Imagine just how embarrassing it would’ve been had he walked in soaked through in through after we had passed him on the highway. Once again, Whitney’s compassionate heart comes through in the clutch.
It isn’t everyday we get an opportunity so blatantly close in circumstance to the Good Samaritan. We do, however, wake up everyday surrounded by people who have been hurt and/or who are struggling. We may not be physically accosted, robbed and left for dead but that doesn’t mean we haven’t suffered some kind of mental, emotional or spiritual abuse. Most of us have at least one circumstance if not a list of circumstances that could be better. Our adversary and accuser is not all powerful but he doesn’t have to be. His cunning coupled with the world’s negativity and those closest to us can be enough to make us feel battered and abused. In those moments its is important to remember the Good Samaritan.
The Good Samaritan is a great illustration of who Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ came to this earth to seek, save and heal our brokenness. He knows our ailments and griefs intimately. He knows how to heal those hurts because he has experienced them. Jesus knows the weakness of the flesh, the power of the Spirit and the eternal nature of judgment. He has bridged the gap for all of us. He’s paid the price for us to live, heal and help so we can assist others in doing the same.
Like the gentlemen we picked up in the pouring rain, we are heading to the same destination. His path until we picked him up was a different one than ours but we were headed in the same direction. All of our paths will converge upon the Judgment. Where we go from there will be based upon how closely we’ve followed the Savior and how well we’ve loved those around us.
Travis