Did You Fall?

By Ann Farabee

It is not something anyone would ever want to face. He was robbed, stripped of his clothing, and wounded. As he fell to the ground, the attackers finally left him.

He had been heading downhill from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was isolated terrain and desert conditions. And now…he was wounded, had fallen, and was in despair. He tried to reach out to those walking by, perhaps gasping, “Help me.”

Finally, in the distance – a priest was heading toward him. But…he soon crossed over to the other side. Did the priest NOT see him? Or did he not WANT to see him? Apparently, he had no interest in helping a fallen man.

Blood pouring from the wound, naked, no money – and the one who could help had just passed him by.

But wait… a Levite was coming! He was looking his direction! Levites were known for following ceremonial law and customs of the day. Surely, he would care for a wounded man, wouldn’t he? But he only looked upon him briefly – and curiously. And he, too, passed over to the other side,

He had fallen. There was no hope.

Enter…the Samaritan.You may recognize him by his modern day name – The Good Samaritan. Samaritans of that day were often hated and thought of as being the ones doing the robbing, not the ones stopping to help.

The Good Samaritan took action:

Day 1 – He saw the man. He had compassion. He went to him. He poured in oil and wine and bound up his wounds. He lifted him up. He set him on his own beast. He took him to an inn. He took care of him.

Day 2 – The Good Samaritan went on with his journey – but not until he paid the innkeeper to take care of the man. He told him if he had not left enough money, he would repay him when he came back by.

I tend to believe he made sure to come back by, don’t you?

Sometimes, we fail to make allowance for the fallen, don’t we?

We see them heading downhill in isolated terrain and desert conditions.

We realize they have fallen to the attackers and need help.

We may intentionally look the other direction.

We may look their direction – but only out of curiosity.

Perhaps the priest saw the fallen man as someone to judge.

Perhaps the Levite saw the fallen man as someone to look at – and avoid.

Perhaps the innkeeper saw the fallen man as someone to help – for a price.

But The Good Samaritan.

That’s The Good Stuff.

I mean – that’s The God Stuff.