Daily life with Jesus by Grahame Howard: Love and Compassion

"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion." Luke 10:33 of 10:30-37 NKJV

The road to Jericho, at the time of Jesus, could be quite a dangerous place to walk along, on your own. Thieves often attacked and killed people, robbing them of all they had. Here, a young Jewish man was walking along the road from Jerusalem and suffered this fate. He was severely beaten, possibly stabbed, and he was left for dead having his goods and clothes taken from him.

A priest came along, took one look at him and walked by on the other side of the road. He was followed by a Levite, probably an assistant priest or worshipper from the tribe of Levi. He looked but chose to do the same, walk by. Before we are tempted to judge these people, let's stop and think of the times that we may have done this. Maybe there was a homeless drunk laying on the pavement, ranting and raving and we've given this person a wide berth. Maybe there was a beggar on the street and we have done the same. In a way, there really is no difference.

Next came a Samaritan and love in action took place. Now Samaritan's were the scum of the earth as far as a Jew was concerned. Very rarely would they associate with one another. And yet, this man, jumped down from his donkey and checked the wounded man over. He exercised love, pouring oil on his wounds and very carefully binding these. He must have used some of his only clothing, ripping them to form bandages as he probably would not have had a first aid kit with him.
He put the man on his own animal and led him to an inn where he made financial provision for the young chap to be taken care of and fed, before his return.

We can lecture and preach to people until they are bored out of their brain and walk away. But when we become the bible to them; when we are living it and show them Jesus, they will respond. There are a lot of hurting people in our world today, especially now with the Coronavirus killing people. They need compassion; they need love, they need to see this in action at this time. They may not go to a church because they may be blaming God for all of their pain. But having us just showing them compassion, listening and helping them when we can, can be a lifeline to them.

We are told by the Coronavirus experts, that life will probably never be the same, as far as we know it. But Jesus will. He never changes, 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.' (Hebrews 13:8). He will be with us forever and His love and compassion will never end.

The old song says it all: 'What the world needs now, is love, sweet love; it's the only thing that there's just too little of.' is so true and so much needed. As Christians, can we agree that we will begin to show more of Jesus' love and compassion to people on a daily basis. The world needs it!

Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard