Rev. dawn b. young
Luke 10:33 – 35 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 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. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.
We are asked to read and hear today about God’s boundless love, and in reading I go directly to the story of the Good Samaritan. This isn’t your typical parable from Jesus, there is a chance we understand this in the telling. This guy was beaten, left for dead, and two folks that you would anticipate assisting you just walk on by. Then to compound the pain, you are rescued by someone that you wouldn’t anticipate coming to your aid. Pretty much anybody could understand that.
Except the point that Jesus is making goes way beyond that. In our context today, for us to really understand the insulting compassion of the Samaritan we would have to imagine that the Samaritan, the rescuer, our rescuer, would have to be the person we hate most in the world. For some of us, that might be Osama bin Laden. For others, that may be a person who looks different from us. Still others may find their rescuer is someone who is of an alternative life. Or someone who we don’t think is a Christian. Or one who believes in another god.
That’s the boundless love that God demands. That whether we are the Samaritan assisting those on the road or we are the object of that assistance, the love we have, God’s love in us, is that boundless love. How will we live out the boundless love of God today?
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