…And when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds…’ Luke 10:33-34.
A man had been attacked. He was robbed and left for dead.
No more information about the man was given. We are not allowed to have our prejudices – ‘he deserved it’; ‘he should have known better to be in the wrong part of town’; ‘he got what was coming to him’ … no, the story gives no information about the victim.
We are the focus of the story, although the victim is left dying. Imagine that: a man’s world has just come undone at the hands of ‘robbers’ and he is not the centre of the story. I am. You are. Imagine for a moment. Someone you don’t know is struggling. It’s not your problem, but suddenly you are the focus of the story….
A priest comes up to the broken man. He crosses the road to avoid him. What goes through his mind as he crosses the road?
Is the man unclean? Rules prohibit me extending kindness…
Is it the Sabbath? Again, the law means I don’t have to get dirty today…
I am in a hurry…there’s another man walking behind me, maybe he will stop … what I am doing is too important …
Heck! This looks serious…I have no idea what I could do to help … quickly cross the road …
The Levite does the same.
Oh the People of God!
The Samaritan walks past. He feels Compassion. He bandages up the mans wounds. He pours oil and wine on them, he puts him on his own animal, and took him to an inn and took care of him. He leaves him there, and leaves the inn keeper to care for him with his money. And he returns to pay the bill (we assume).
I walk past. What do I do?
I’ll tell you. I have a battle that goes on in my mind. I want to stop. But I really have to be somewhere - really. I want to stop, but what if it gets too big for me to handle? I want to stop, but she really has to hit rock bottom before anything I do will help (great line from the speaker at church on Sunday). (All these issues are completely valid by the way.)
So I trust in ‘law’ – what other people tell me to do – at least that absolves the responsibility from me having to examine what the Spirit is teaching me. So I live by rules. That keep me safe, and others safe. That’s the idea. But I want to live by the Spirit. But that means I have to be in constant honest relationship with God – putting to death the ‘me’, and giving the Spirit control. Life is then by faith. Not by rules. The shades of grey. ‘Don’t give people on the street money, they will only spend it on alcohol’, ‘don’t sit and have a coffee with her, she is beyond help’….. No. Compassion. It is not about rules. It is deep connections with people, that is costly to me, that bring healing. (and i am not suggesting life by the spirit is opposed to rules and order!)
(By the way, I am all about being ‘wise’ in being compassionate, and that boundaries are necessary!.....oh dear, the circle returns...really thinking out loud here!)
Compassion. It describes God. It describes Jesus. Does it describe me? (please, that is a rhetorical question).
posted by me @ 4:57 PM
6 Comments:
"Compassion. It describes God. It describes Jesus. Does it describe me? (please, that is a rhetorical question)."
This made me grin. Thankyou!
gosh, so true rhea!
Tonight core we were talking about contentment in relation to money, particularly in reference to what is said in 1 Timothy. A big part of being content is seeking righteousness rather than riches. And part of this comes generosity.
Something we surely cannot effectively do without compassion i should think?!
Anyway, sorry this is a bit of a ramble, my point just being how much compassion flows over to all parts of our lives if we are to live following the example of Christ...perhaps more than we let ourselves realise...which is why i think that question you pose is so important! thank you!
yes yes I struggle too with the boundaries vs expressions of compassion. I have had people stay in my home that others would not allow in their home due to 'boundaries'. But since having a child I suppose my 'boundaries' are different to what they used to be putting myself or my child at risk carry greater consequences now. it's hard. it's hard also to sustain compassionate responces if you are heading to burnout. I've been this and I've seen this. BUT praise be to God who gives us his wonderful wisdom in these times.
rachel - so true hey! It seems that in some Christian cirles the buzz word (i hate the term buzz word by the way) is boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. ANd in other circles it's, "if you rely on God for your strength you will never get burnt out". ... i was thinking about Jesus when he healed on the sabboth. The sabboth did not allow 'work' etc to be done, but he did it any way, because the purpose of the law was not to preclude kindness, compassion and love ... yeah, no answers, but i so know the experience of being on the way to burn out, and also of being so scared of getting to that place, that all my walls go up .... i am getting there i hope! Here here to God gracious giving wisdom to the fool (that's me not you!). PS: Keep the heart soft!
Chelsea: yeah i agree, compassion is not meant to be a program - it's your life ..
Ben: smiling is good! i guess a grin is the next best thing to a smile ;)
"oh the shiny trinkets of temptation, something new instead of something old - all you gotta do is scratch beneath the surface and it's fool's gold"
ok, now pick the artist that did this song.
last night was a nice case in point for boundaries v compassion. That line that compassion is not a program is pretty nifty. I think boundaries only get in the way if you use them to excuse yourself from being compassionate. Beth used to say that if the other person knows where your heart is, they have no problem respecting your boundaries. But then I also think boundaries need to be permeable - which may seem like a contradiction of the term, but it's closer to real life i think, where there are very few abstractions of black/white, in/out, right/wrong, whatever/whatever, that constantly hold.
gk
INDIGO GIRLS!!! i like them. yeah ... true g-man. What happened at drop in last night. I was sad i had leave before things got started ... boo. I really like what you mentioned about Beth's comment - its about your heart coming through. I loike it!
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