The way life is set up yea.

The story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible is one that we have heard multiple times. It is a story that shows the harsh reality of a selfish intolerant world, but one that also hits our sweet spots because the end of the story is good, and the bad taste it initially leaves in our mouths is quickly replaced by the sweet nectar of compassion.

Status often dictates the dynamics of interaction, spelling out the unwritten rule to roll with our kind, and stay on our side of the tracks. This is of course with the rationale that the odds are always against the lesser, who are often the ones in need of mercy and kindness. In this case however, the Good Samaritan — the lesser, had the upper hand, and considering that he was despised, could have easily taken this as an opportunity to spit in the face of the Jew while he was down. Instead, he chose to show compassion, tending to his wounds, paying for his upkeep and even offering to pay more if need be. 

Prior to the Samaritans arrival to the crime scene, a Jewish priest and a temple assistant saw the distressed Jew, but both crossed to the other side of the street and kept on moving. They saw a need and chose to turn a blind eye, and the fact that it was a fellow Jew did not soften their hardened hearts. Which is more tragic, the complete lack of altruism from supposed men of faith, or the lack of compassion for a fellow brother? It’s pretty equal to me. However, I suspect that this would have been lost in the shuffle, as people would have likely been more focused on sensationalized fake news:- 

SCANDAL! Samaritan caught with distressed Jew…!

The religious scholar answered, “it states, ‘you must love the Lord God with all your heart, all your passion, all your energy, and your every thought. And you must love your neighbour as well as you love yourself.’ ” Jesus said, “That is correct, now go and do exactly that and you will live.” Wanting to justify himself, he questioned Jesus further, saying, “what do you mean by ‘my neighbour’?” |Luke 10:25-29| Jesus proceeds to tell the parable and at the end says, so now tell me, which one of these three men who saw the wounded man proved to be a true neighbour? |30-37|

You just never know where your helping hand will come from, and I believe that Jesus told this parable to teach a valuable lesson on open mindedness.  The heart of compassion in Jesus’ parable came from an unexpected source, a person that would not have been considered ‘neighbour’ by the Jew.  It is a humbling reminder that regardless of status, or where we are on the preferential sliding scale of race, religion, gender et al., we will one day be in need of compassion, and will have no say in, or control over who it will come from. 

The moral of the story you ask? Do not turn up your nose at anyone, because it really is funny how life works sometimes.

Happy MonYAY 💕

xoxo