Smack-Dab In Front

Missing things that are right in front of me is something I deal with daily. I have actually gone on a search for something only to find that I am holding it in my hand. Oh, how I do hate to admit that.

I've also chased after many thing, CERTAIN that I must pursue them. Only to find after my conquests were completed that I was woefully negligent about what really needed my attention.

I think about this often when faced with the story of the Good Samaritan.

Priests and Levites were busy people. They had a calling on their lives. Places to go, people to see, important things to do. All good things, I'm sure.

Samaritans? Nobody cared much for them.

Most assuredly, Samaritans were not the 'target group', 'demographic' or 'unreached people of the week' in their day. And who knows about the poor guy on the side of the road.

What I love about the parable of the Good Samaritan is how it is Jesus who told this story. Not the Samaritan.

Is this quite possibly because, had the Samaritan told the story, it would have lost some of its inherent beauty? Would the humility have been lost? Or, was it so common in his life that it really did not seem like an event to record for all time and eternity?

I know, I know. Parables are tales of the Kingdom. Maybe it never REALLY happened. But even if the titles, occupations and ethnicities were changed, for Jesus to tell this story, it is true and it did happen. Still happens everyday, I am quite sure.

I also know that this story is read, preached about, talked about and retold in so many forms that there isn't much left to say about it today.

Except for maybe this one thing.

That Samaritan? He must have realized that at one time he was the injured man on the side of the road. The Priest and Levite? Hmmm. Much to ponder there.

So go get your neighbor. Yes. That one right in front of you. Now, all you need to do is give her what you were given.