There isn't anyone in Western culture who doesn't know the classic story of the good Samaritan rescuing the half-dead traveler. It adds a whole new depth of understanding and nuance to know the importance of the scene in which Jesus placed this story. As always, William Barclay is of great assistance in this.
... The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a notoriously dangerous road. Jerusalem is 2,300 feet above sea-level; the Dead Sea, near which Jericho stood, is 1,300 feet below sea-level. So then, in somewhat less than 20 miles, this road dropped 3,600 feet. It was a road of narrow, rocky defiles, and of sudden turnings which made it the happy hunting-ground of brigands. In the fifth century Jerome tells us that it was still called "The Red, or Bloody Way." In the 19th century it was still necessary to pay safety money to the local Sheiks before one could travel on it. As late as the early 1930s H.V. Morton tells us that he was warned to get home before dark, if he intended to use the road, because a certain Abu Jildah was an adept at holding up cars and robbing travelers and tourists, and escaping to the hills before the police could arrive.
What becomes more obvious is that the traveler not only is badly injured but is that way because of his own reckless behavior. The lesson is more pointed when we realize that it does not matter if the person needs help because of their own deliberately foolish actions. They still need help and we are the ones called upon to give it should we happen across them. Translated into the types of situations I come across in my own life that means no self righteousness allowed. Ouch!
No comments:
Post a Comment