Yesterday’s Sunday School lesson centered around the story of the Good Samaritan. We’ve read it many times and criticized the callousness of the priest and the Levite as they passed by a man who had been beaten and robbed and left for dead on the roadside. The priest and Levite would have considered the Samaritan their inferior, yet it was the Samaritan who was the hero of the story. Although he probably had things to do and places to go, he changed his plans for a stranger who needed help.
Getting down in the dust, the Samaritan (I wonder what his name was?) bound up the man’s wounds and set him on his own donkey (this meant the Samaritan had to walk.) Can’t you see him plodding along beside the donkey, one hand on the injured person to steady him. Taking him to an inn, he paid for the stranger’s room. He even went a step further and promised the innkeeper reimbursement for expenses beyond what he had paid.
Why didn’t the priest or the Levite stop? They were supposed to represent God’s love. Did they justify themselves by saying, “Poor man. I’ll pray for him.” Or, did they think by ignoring the plight of a fellow traveler, it would go away? Were they in a hurry and didn’t want their schedule interrupted? Or, worst of all, did they feel the bruised and battered stranger was not worth their time of day, was inferior and probably deserved to be beaten and robbed? To my way of thinking, the priest and the Levite are to be pitied. Their hearts were a few sizes too small.
This story the Lord told which is recorded in the Book of Luke is a story of compassion for a fellow traveler. 
It is a story that was needed then and is needed now. In our hurry-up world, I hope I never pass by someone who needs me to stop, feel what she is feeling, and do my best to make things better. Blessings are wonderful things; we can’t bless others without being blessed ourselves.
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