DAILY READING
REFLECTION
He Saved Him Out of All His Troubles
by Dan Kidd
"This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles."
When Jesus finished the parable of the "good Samaritan," he asks the "expert in the law," which of these three men (the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan) which of these was a neighbor to the man who'd been robbed and brutalized. The law expert replied what was obvious, " the one who had mercy on him." And Jesus responds "Go and do likewise."
Jesus meant go and be a neighbor like the Samaritan in the parable. But, let us not miss that the Samaritan was doing what the Lord would do. I think it is quite safe for us to believe that had Jesus encountered this poor man in the parable, robbed and beaten, that Jesus would have done precisely what the Samaritan did--meet him and attend to him in his need. Because that is the Lord's nature: to meet us in our need, [care for us, advocate for us, and provide for us]. The Samaritan loved his neighbor the way God intends for love to be. The Samaritan was, in this instance, the hands of feet of the Lord's. He loved and cared for the man left beaten.
In Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, he writes "follow my example (or imitate me), as I follow the example of (or imitate) Christ." When Jesus directs the law expert to go and do like the Samaritan, what he also means is go and imitate this behavior of the Samaritan as the Samaritan has imitated God. Because it is God's nature to hear the cries of the poor, the needy, the harmed, fearful, and suffering, and to respond with healing and care. Our passage from Psalm 34 speaks this very word. The Lord hears our cries--every one of them--and the Lord who loves us saves us. It is because we have been saved by Christ that we can be trained and transformed into those who would, like the Samaritan, respond in the kind of love we were created to share--the kind of love we have received from the Lord.
"Let the afflicted hear and rejoice [...] let us exalt his name together." Because of Christ, we can be attentive, responsive, and kind to those around us in need--being like the Samaritan--and we can rejoice along with them that the Lord's kindness and care has touched us, saved us, because we are his beloved. Indeed, let us rejoice and exalt his name who has so loved us.
PRAYER
Lord, remind us again and hear our thanksgiving, for the many ways that you have loved us, cared for us, and saved us. It is because of you, because we live in you and you live in us, that we can love our neighbors as you've created us to do. Give eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that are moved to compassion that we may be good, Kingdomly neighbors to those around us.
