On the Dangerous Road

When you read the parable of the Good Samaritan, who do you identify most with? Are you the priest, the Levite, or the Good Samaritan? Most of us would probably like to love more people like the Samaritan did in this parable. We can likely identify with the priest and Levite though and acknowledge that we have missed some opportunities alongside the road. 

But have you ever considered that you might actually be the most like the man on the road who needed help? Jesus is our Good Samaritan. He picked you up in your shame and your hopelessness, and he didn't care about how you looked. Jesus just picked you up, and he pulled you off a road that you probably shouldn't have been on in the first place. And he didn't ask a bunch of questions about how you got there. He just says, “Let me just get you somewhere else, some place safe where you can heal and be taken care of.” 

Something happens inside of you when you recognize you've been in the guy on the road. It starts to get really difficult for you to not stop for others when you realize you’ve been in that same position yourself. And people stranded on the side of the road can be mad, angry, abused hurt, and arrogant; they aren’t the easiest people to love and care for sometimes. But the more you see that you have been the guy on the road, the harder it becomes to just walk past people.

Why? Because you remember what it was like to be overlooked by others and for your hurt to feel unseen. Seeing people leads to stopping for people. And the second you stop for people, then all of a sudden, you can't help but notice that the wounds they have look a lot like the scars that you carry. You just want Jesus to heal them because you know the change that healing brings.