Maybe the most important blog I have ever posted

This morning I have been thinking of Jesus’ parable referred to as The Good Samaritan. Jesus answers the question of an “expert in the law” (Luke 10:25) who asked the Lord what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law said and the law expert recited what Jesus had said in Matthew 22:35-40. In that passage Jesus is asked, what is the ‘Greatest Commandment’ and Jesus had said to love the Lord your God with all that you are and the second commandment much like the first was to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tells him he is right so then he asks the Lord “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:28)

It is in this context that Jesus tells the parable of The Good Samaritan. You probably know the story but just in case … A man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was robbed, beaten, and left in a ditch on the side of the road. A priest walking by saw him and moved to the other side of the road to ignore him. Jesus said a Levite (a priest’s helper) responded the same way. But then Jesus says a Samaritan, one of the despised “half-breed” Jews who had intermarried with pagan Gentiles, walked up, saw the man, bandaged his wounds, put him on his donkey, and took him to an inn where he paid the innkeeper to take care of the man. He told the innkeeper if what he gave him was not enough to cover the expenses, the next time he passed through he would pay him the rest. Jesus then asked the law expert which of the three he thought was a neighbor to the man who was in the ditch. The law expert responded “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus then said, “Go and do likewise.”

Why am I reflecting on this today? I think for a couple of reasons: 

1. When life is good for us, it is easy for us to be like the priest or Levite and see people whose life is in the ditch, only to cross the road and avoid them.
2. At times the wheels come off of all of this wagon we call life and our life ends up in the ditch … this is one of those times for me.

In all honesty there have been times, too many as matter of fact, where I have been the priest or the Levite. It is easy to stand in judgment of those whose life becomes derailed: “Well that is what he gets, he knew better than to travel this road alone. There has to be some great sin in his life or he would not have ended up in the ditch in the first place.” Today I am learning that the view from the ditch is different from the view from the road. There is a lot of pain in the ditch. There are the wounded in the ditch. There is dirt in the ditch. I am learning once you have been in a ditch you cannot help but think back on all the times you acted in judgment about those people who experienced life in the ditch. In all honesty, mercy looks different from the ditch. It gives you a completely new perspective. You think back over all the times you walked past someone in the ditch because you thought you were just too busy, not the right person, or you would catch them on the way back, you did not have the right words, or you thought they deserved the ditch. When you are in the ditch, you remember all the inadequate, inappropriate, or perhaps even harsh words you spoke to someone in the very same ditch you now find yourself.

In a previous blog, I referenced “decisions” I have made and am making that people did not or will not agree with. The first of those decisions was to leave Eastwood for a secular job. “How can you leave the call of God on your life? A man of God would never or should never do that!” Well, that is not the only decision I have made that people will take issue with; more decisions will become known in the days ahead. “Brother Tom, that is kind of cryptic. What do you mean other decisions? What have you done?” The easy thing to do would be to spend your time talking about what “great sin” caused my life to end up in the ditch. Can I ask you to spend more time talking to the One who can pull me from the ditch than you do talking to others about why I am in the ditch?

Some will conclude, “Well, everything he preached was a lie!” Nothing could be further from the truth. I preached the truth as best I knew and tried to preach the full counsel of God’s Word. Here is the problem though … no man can live completely the full counsel of God’s Word. So will there be a disconnect of sorts for some of you as you try to understand? Absolutely! However, please know I believe everything that I preached, but I am also human and not immune to poor decisions and sin.

In the days ahead, some of you may feel the need to “preach” to me about the error of my ways. Please don’t! If you feel the need to blast me on my social media page, I will simply block you. Instead, if you cannot get past the urge to take issue with me on my social media account, or if you feel like you can no longer have fellowship with me, I would ask you simply to unfriend me. Hear once again the words of our Lord: “‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10:36-37)