We may not rescue everybody, but we can stop ignoring somebody
There is something heartbreaking about the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37. A traveler was ambushed by thieves, robbed of his possessions, stripped of his clothing, beaten mercilessly, and abandoned along the dangerous road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Left half dead, he could neither defend himself nor escape his suffering.
We are never told his name, occupation, or social standing. All we know is that he was a human being desperately in need of mercy. He needed somebody to stop. Instead, the religious men passed by. The priest saw him. The Levite saw him. They saw his wounds and helplessness yet crossed to the other side and kept walking.
Then came a Samaritan, an unlikely hero in the eyes of many. He allowed another man’s suffering to interrupt his journey. The religious men saw a problem to pass by. The Samaritan saw a person worth stopping for. And that is where this story confronts the church.
We preach about a Savior who came looking for the lost. Yet, how often do we overlook the people He came to save? We sing about amazing grace while stepping around people whose lives are falling apart. We celebrate God’s mercy while withholding our own. We worship the One who heals broken hearts while people outside our doors wonder if anybody cares that they are breaking.
We cannot claim to represent the heart of Christ while remaining unmoved by the suffering of people He loves.
Who is lying in the ditch today? It is the elderly person sitting alone in a quiet house, longing for a familiar voice and wondering if anyone remembers they are still here. It is the exhausted mother stretching every dollar, skipping meals so her children can eat, and lying awake wondering how she will survive another week.
It is the teenager laughing with friends while silently battling rejection and wounds they cannot explain. It is the homeless neighbor searching for a safe place to sleep while the world passes without a glance. It is the person chained to addiction, fighting battles hidden by shame.
It is the family watching its stability crumble beneath mounting bills and uncertainty. And it is the wounded soul standing outside the church doors, desperate for hope but afraid the people inside will condemn their past before hearing their pain.
The most dangerous thing about a ditch is not simply that someone has fallen into it. It is that people can get so used to seeing someone there that nobody stops anymore.
Some people are in ditches of poverty. Others are in ditches of grief, rejection, addiction, and despair. Some cry for help, while others have suffered so long they no longer believe anyone will hear them.
The most dangerous thing about a ditch is not simply that someone has fallen into it. It is that people can get so used to seeing someone there that nobody stops anymore.
Church, our buildings may be beautiful, our worship powerful, and our ministries busy, but none of that excuses us from loving our neighbors. A church can be full of people and empty of compassion. We can celebrate what happens inside our walls while ignoring the people who need what God has placed within our hands.
The Samaritan did more than feel sorry for the wounded man. He stopped. He bent down. He touched the wounds. He gave his time and resources to someone who could offer him nothing in return. His compassion cost him something because genuine love moves beyond feeling sorry into sacrifice.
We may not rescue everybody, but we can stop ignoring somebody. We can feed the hungry, visit the lonely, encourage the discouraged, and restore dignity to the forgotten. We can become the answer to prayer someone has been praying through tears.
Before we look down on the person in the ditch, we ought to remember the ditches God brought us out of. Somebody prayed for us, showed us mercy, extended grace, or refused to abandon us when we were difficult to love. Never become so comfortable with the mercy God showed you that you lose compassion for people who still need it.
Jesus ended the story with a command: “Go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37, ESV). We must do more than admire the Samaritan. We must do more than preach about the Samaritan. We must go and do likewise.
The tragedy is not only that people are falling into ditches. It is that people can lie there bleeding while those who claim to love God walk right past them. Church, community, and neighbor, who is lying in the ditch while you keep walking by? When you see them, will you cross the road, or will you stop?
Jesus wants us to do LIKEWISE!