on the road we travel

a few weeks ago dan, jess, my mom and dad, hopelyn and i were sitting in an atlanta airport restaurant when a waitress bumped into the man sitting at the table next to us. she had just picked up dirty dishes and trash from another table. she didn't even apologize. he had egg all over his shirt, coffee on his pants and, because his table had already been cleared, he didn't even have a napkin. we were embarrassed and I looked away so not to embarrass him further by staring. i'm not even sure how many others noticed because despite the clatter, no one seemed to look his way. the restaurant buzz and clinkering continued. but before i even had time to take this all in, my dad had already handed the man all of the napkins on our table and was helping the man clean himself off.

Jesus told this story: a man was going down from jerusalem to jericho, when he fell into the hands of 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 denari 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.' Jesus then asked, "which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?...... go and do likewise." luke 10:30-37

Jesus was speaking to jewish "teachers of the law" or rabbis. to them, suggesting that a samaritan man was the compassionate hero in the story was appalling and offensive. it didn't matter how good the man's deeds were, he was a samaritan, a pagan sinner. As religious leaders, they refused to commend or praise the man.
in his book, 'searching for god knows what,' donald miller says that telling the jewish rabbis this story was "the modern day equivalent of telling a group of conservative evangelical christians about a pluralist, liberal homosexual who heroically stops to help a stranded traveler after a preacher, a republican, and a christian writer have all passed him by."

how humbling.

who do we 'religious folk' think we are anyway?