DECISION POINTS

The gospel reading assigned for tomorrow includes the famous parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). It's so full of lessons for us that it's hard to pick just one. But I'd like to reflect on an aspect of Jesus' little story that is not so obvious at first.

We all know the plot line: a man falls prey to highway robbers and is left for dead. Three different

individuals come down the road one after the other. The first, a priest, doesn't want to go near the figure lying on the side of the road (a Jew would likely guess that the priest was afraid it might be a dead body which, if he touched it, would render him ritually impure and he would have to go through all sorts of trouble get purified). Next comes a Levite, that is, a man dedicated to service in the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus doesn't tell us his reason for avoiding the victim lying alongside the road, but we're allowed to speculate. But their reasons for passing by are not the point of the parable. 

Finally, along comes a Samaritan, someone who would be despised by any self-respecting Jew. (If a Jews shook hands with a Samaritan, the Jew would have to go and ritually purify himself.) So our Lord's hearers would expect this Samaritan to pass by like the first two, or might go over and check the victim to see if the thieves had overlooked any money or valuables. Instead he does something completely unexpected: "Moved with compassion at the sight, he approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal,took him to an inn and cared for him" (Lk 10:33-34).

Consider for a moment, the significance of that place on the road. It is a point of decision, a point of judgement: You cannot pass that point on the road unchanged: You will be either better or worse, depending on what you do for the helpless victim lying there, but you will never be the same afterwards. You may wish that this were not so, but the lesson of the parable seems pretty clear.

So, the parable suggests an important question I can ask myself: What are soem of the "decision points" along my own path of life? 

Decision point on the road: There is a certain friend of mine who is having a difficult time lately and

would be cheered by a phone call from me. Do I pick up the phone or do I pass up the opportunity to help that person and move on to other business?

Decision point on the road: I meet a colleague in the hallway. Do I smile at them and trade a word or two, or am I so busy with important things that I ignore the person and stride on down the hallway?

Decision point on the road? Think of a few in your own life, times when you are forced to make a decision. You will not go past that decision point unchanged. The experience will leave you either a slightly better, more loving person, or a slightly less compassionate follower of Christ.

Let us ask our loving Savior to give us the eyes to see the many decision points on our road each day, and give us as wellm a share of the courage, compassion and love that the Samaritan showed in the parable.