Dear Friends,
It seems that whenever I meditate on the story of the good Samaritan, I notice something new. This week, as I read the story, I found myself thinking about my daughter Rose. The summer after her freshman year of college, she took a trip to Europe. She planned to meet up with a friend for part of the journey, but she did the first part alone. This wasn’t my first choice for my 18 year old daughter. But I learned long ago not to get in her way when she decides she’s going to do something. At first, she was having a marvelous time. But then I got a terrifying phone call. Having failed to heed my advice to keep money and cards in different places on her person, she left her wallet on the counter at a restaurant in Milan. By the time she realized her mistake, someone had taken it, and she found herself stranded on the steet with no money and no cards. Her Eurail pass had also been in the wallet and was gone.
My first instinct was to tell her to stay exactly where she was and wait for me to get there. Something in my gut screamed out, “Hang on! Mommy is coming!!!” But of course, this was an absurd idea. It would have taken me up to two days to get there if I left immediately. Instead I reached out to everyone I knew to see if anyone might be in or near Milan and told her that, under no circumstances should she get in a car with a stranger.
Meanwhile, a woman who worked at a nearby restaurant came out and found my precious little girl sitting on the curb, crying. She bought her dinner, walked with her to a nearby hotel (so she wouldn’t have to get into a stranger’s car), paid for her room, and left her with some cash and a phone number to call if things weren’t sorted out by the morning. The next day, Rose was able to reach a friend in Germany who sent her a train ticket that would take her to their home, and I had found a friend who happened to be in Milan to go in person to make sure she was okay until the train left.
I will be grateful to this stranger who cared for my daughter for the rest of my life. I wanted to pay her back for the cost of everything she had done. But she refused. This week, when I read the story of the good Samaritan, I thought of her. And I realized something. Every person standing on a street corner hungry is just as beautiful and precious as my little girl. They may not look as cute and sweet anymore as they did when they were eighteen years old. They may be dirty and unkempt and smell bad. They may be rude and not be quite right in the head. But to their mothers, they were, at least at one time, what my children are to me. And to God, they still are.
Today, read the story of the good Samaritan, and think of the man attacked by robbers as someone you love.
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37 (NIV)
A prayer for today:
Jesus, help me to see as you see. Show me how precious each and every person is to you. And make me like the Samaritan who cared for a stranger he knew nothing about. Amen
Love in Christ,
Michelle
