| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 31 |
Page 5 |
In a sense this Good Samaritan is a picture of Christ Himself. The wounded man represents humanity, robbed and beaten by sin, ready to die. The priest and the Levites represent human religions which, at the best, give only a glance of pity and then pass on. But Jesus comes full of compassion, serving and nursing back into life, healing, and wholeness, dying souls. A Chinese man thus described the relative merits of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. A man had fallen into a deep, dark pit, and lay in its miry bottom, groaning and unable to move. Confucius came by, approached the edge of the pit, and said: “Poor fellow, I am very sorry for you. Why were you such a fool as to get in there? Let me give you a piece of advice — if you ever get out, don’t get in again.” “I cannot get out,” groaned the man.
Then the Buddhist priest next came by, and said: “Poor fellow, I am very much pained to see you here. I think if you could scramble up two-thirds of the way, or even half, I could reach you and lift you up the rest.” But the man in the pit was entirely helpless, unable to climb up even the smallest part of the way. He could do nothing to help himself. Then Jesus Christ came by, and, hearing the man’s cries, he went to the very brink of the pit, stretched down, and laid hold of the poor fellow, and said, “Go, sin no more.” That is what Christianity does.
“Which of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” That was the Master’s question. The lawyer could not help answering, “He that showed mercy on him.” Then came the application, “Go, and do thou likewise.” It is not enough to hear good lessons or look on good examples; when we have heard and seen, when we must go out and do the good things which are so beautiful, which our judgment commends. It is not enough for the artist to have lovely visions — he must get his visions on the canvas, where they will be blessings to the world. It is a precious privilege to look at noble lives and to read heavenly counsels. But we must reproduce in disposition, in act, in character, in our own lives, the excellent things we read. Now we have read the story of the Good Samaritan. Is that all we need to do? No; we must go and do likewise.
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