Good Sam
Originally scheduled for May 27
It’s not often that you hear this topic
preached, but it is still the fact that the Good Samaritan is for
us, in a way, a model of Christ. Look at some of the things he did:
·
He took a risk in going down the
Jericho Road, much as the victim did. He was not afraid to go where
trouble might lie — which means, with the rest of us sinners.
·
He was not only willing to sacrifice
his money to help this man; he came prepared to do it. He brought
his own first aid kit, even knowing he might have to use it on a
Jew.
·
He followed through. He enlisted the
innkeeper’s assistance at his own expense. He promised to return and
see to it that the man was well.
All these things are examples of “What Would
Jesus Do?” Indeed, they are representative of the things that Jesus
did.
·
He walked where we walk — literally.
He came in the flesh, taking on human form so as to reach humanity
for the sake of God.
·
He did not come just to preach, but
to do his Father’s will. He came prepared to die on the cross;
indeed, it was his purpose in coming. He came willing to sacrifice.
·
He followed through — and we are that
follow-through. He established the church, his body on earth, to do
what he was told by the father to do. We are Christ to the millions.
Communion reinforces these ideas for us. We
share in the body and blood of Jesus Christ when we take communion.
This could not be possible if that body were not presented to
mankind, physically in the flesh. Jesus was not a ghost, hovering
around. In communion, we proclaim his incarnation. Also, we proclaim
that we are the body of Christ — each of us in communion with all of
our brothers and sisters around the world. We care for each other,
and we are told that this is how the world will know that we are his
disciples — by our love for one another.
We say we are the church — Christ reaching out to the world.
Sometimes that’s done as an evangelist, but more often it is done as
a Good Samaritan. If we are indeed the body of Christ, then we are
indeed the Good Samaritans to the world. Let us do these things
despising the risks, knowing that they will cost us in sacrifice.
Then let us follow through so that all the world will know that we
are those who love one another in the cause of Christ — and
therefore love the world as well.
