It's The Time...Of The Season...When Love Runs High

Luke 10:33
But A certain Samaritan.......

If you read the passage above, you'll see that Jesus is telling religious lawyer (part of the ruling elect of the Jewish faith) who his neighbor is.
The man had asked Jesus what must he do to inherit eternal life. Jesus countered his question with a question (that Jesus is smart...he knew this guy was simply out to trick him). Jesus asked him what did the law have to say about the matter. The man quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5 and from Leviticus 19:18 that he should love God, love himself and love his neighbor. It might have gone well if the lawyer had let sleeping dogs lie, but he just couldn't quit or help himself. Wanting to justify his outstanding reputation, the lawyer asked one more question...."Who is my neighbor?" Jesus had him.

Jesus used a story of a man taking a journey "down" to Jericho. Did you even notice that there is always trouble when we move "down" and away from God. The call to follow Jesus is always an upward call (as Paul put it in Philippians 3:14). Anyway, the man on the journey was robbed and beaten by a bunch of thugs. (Why thugs run in bunches, I do not know. Why not groups? Or gaggles?)  Left for dead, the man lay there unable to help himself. Who should parade by but a Priest (Religious door #1) quickly followed by a Levite (Religious door #2), both of whom kept going. I'm sure they uttered a prayer for the man...."God bless you and be of good cheer my good fellow." On the inside they wanted nothing to do with him. It was too much trouble.

Then Jesus brings forth the hero of the story. The most unlikely person you could pick......a Samaritan!  The Samaritan is the reversal of the priests and Levite. Those two should of and usually would have been the heros if someone else had told the story, but not here. In Jesus' version, the Samaritan knew how to treat his neighbor. The man who was beaten was not someone the Samaritan knew or even someone of the same race...he was just a man in need. Binding up the wounds and loading the beaten man up on his donkey, the Samaritan took him to the nearest Holiday Express and booked him a room Told the desk clerk to see that the man gets what he needs to recover. Paid for it and then told the clerk..."If it turns out to costs more than I have paid, I will come back by here and settle the bill." The Samaritan was the one who stood to inherit eternal life more than the religious lawyer. The moral of the story is not that works save you and make firm your place in heaven with Christ, but rather works come from a heart of love that has been touched and changed by Jesus Christ. That our neighbor is whomever we come in contact with today.

If you have spent any time reading the 12 Steps, you will find that Step #12 is an action step.
Having had a spiritual awakening, practicing these principals in my daily life, I seek to take the message to others who are still in their addiction. This message we take to the "others" is more than words. It is a smile to someone who hasn't had anything to smile about. It is a cup of coffee and a cookie given in love. It is an invitation to "Come sit with me" at the meetings. It is one who was beaten up going down the road of life, helping another who still bears the wounds and open bloody places of life and doesn't know what to do.

I am your neighbor.....
You are my neighbor.....

God on you....
mb