Dear Friends,

Jesus not only interacted with people in the flesh, but many times Scripture points out that, as He’s having a conversation with someone, He knows the motives of their heart.

Try and pull one over on that Teacher.

In Luke 10, a lawyer hears Jesus teach how to inherit eternal life—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

The lawyer, wanting to justify himself, interrogates Jesus on who exactly is his neighbor. The human heart, like a pesky shopping cart, swerves unendingly toward self-justification.

Jesus responds by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan.

A victim has been robbed, stripped, wounded, and cast to the side of the road. A priest comes along. He sees the man and moves carefully away. He cannot touch the mess or he won’t be able to carry out his important religious duties.

The Levite looks at the victim. He comes up with valid reasons he cannot or should not help, justifies himself, and moves on.

(As a woman who’s been in ministry for two decades, I take the responses of the religious leaders in this parable as a divine hint to check my heart.)

Finally, along comes—my husband’s favorite detail—a businessman. Far from stepping over the mess, he cleans wounds, pours oil and wine, and pays for the victim’s care before he continues on his way, just to return days later with more money to assist in his neighbor’s healing.

The religious crew get a pretty bad rap in this story. So I love how in Matt 9:36, Jesus Himself comes in to show a better way.

In this scene, Jesus stands before a crowd and, just as the priest and Levite “saw” the beaten man, He “saw the crowds… they were harassed and helpless”.

And this religious Rabbi, Jesus, was “moved with compassion”.

That leaves me with no words, except to pray:

Jesus help us, when we see the vulnerable, to let it stop us in our tracks. Let us be moved from the inside out. Teach us to pour the oil of healing and to bear the cost of deep concern for our neighbor.

–Anna

P.S. As always, I love to hear from you. Hit reply if you have any thoughts on this parable or if you just want to say hi!

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​