A Samaritan's Need to be Interrupted

"...and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them" (Luke 10:34a)

Have you ever been occupied with something, beloved, only to have the doorbell ring or a neighbor walk up, or some other interruption occur that completely stopped you in your tracks? At such times nothing is more annoying than having to stop what you are doing, having to lose your focus and turn to something else!

The Samaritan was on a journey of his own. He had business appointments to keep, an agenda to be carried out, places to go and people to see. Yet when he found the wounded Hebrew on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, all of that changed. In the words "(he) came to him," we discover a man who cared so much about this hapless victim that he was willing to have his own journey interrupted, his own schedule set aside. And it was at this precise moment that ministry became "costly" for him.

You and I as Christians are going to have to be willing to be "inconvenienced" if we are ever going to help others by ministering to their needs in the love of Jesus. I recall a personal experience that speaks to this need graphically. While serving as a pastor when I was much younger, I had the responsibility for keeping the parsonage grass cut. I was free to use the church's riding mower and was only too glad to do so. What annoyed me, however, were the "interruptions" of finding objects laying in my path when I was flying along across the lawn at full speed. Ever been there? I did not like having to go through all of those safety steps that were then and are now designed into riding mowers - taking the mower out of gear, disengaging the blades, putting the mower in the "Park" position before it would allow me to dismount without the engine cutting off. So I developed my own technique for ridding myself of those pesky objects that dared to get in my way. I learned how to lean down at just the right angle, still flying along with the throttle wide open, and "scoop" up each object that was in my path. Certainly I would not recommend such a foolhardy practice to anyone in using a riding mower today, but that is what I did. And I did so all because I did not want my activity to be interrupted in any way!

Sometimes as Christians that is precisely how we try to minister to people's needs. We "fly through" their lives at breakneck speed, trying to slap a band-aid on whatever is wrong as we pass by. We simply are not willing to be inconvenienced or to have our own agendas interrupted. Yet the Samaritan in Jesus' parable teaches us that ministry requires us to be willing to make the needs of others our highest priority. Very simply, "he came to him." What are you willing to give up in order to be a servant of Jesus Christ in showing His love to others, even in meeting people at the point of their deepest need?

Ron