This past Sunday, we heard the beloved story of the Good Samaritan. Many of us have likely heard, studied, and pondered this text numerous times. Yet still, even after hearing this story over and over again, it continues to challenge us to see one another as our neighbors, to draw near to them, and to reach out in acts of service.
Easy to say. But in practice? Sometimes that asks a bit more than we are willing to give. Yet, drawing on the words of Martin Luther King Jr., as people united to each other in the body of Christ, we don’t have the luxury of isolating ourselves from one another. He writes:
“On the parable of the Good Samaritan: I imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But by the very nature of his concern, the good Samaritan revised the question, ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'”
What would happen if we approached our neighbors, especially those left half-dead in our society, through the lens of the second question? And, what would happen to us, as we open our eyes to see our neighbors as people full of dignity, deserving of respect?
This week, consider reframing the way you see those around you. Even today, there are those on the margins who are barely noticed – let alone seen as neighbors – within our communities, within our country, and within our world. If we, as the body of Christ, do not pay heed to the pain of those around us, what will happen to them?