The Good Samaritan Revisited - Part Two

Jesus told a story to a Jewish legal expert, seeking interpretation of the command to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It was a story about a Jewish man, robbed and beaten while travelling. Two Jewish men of high esteem pass him by without helping him. A Samaritan, though, rescues him. In hearing, sharing, or interpreting this story, we tend to overlook the details Jesus gives about this man's actions. First, he risks a great deal. He risks violent reprisal for touching a Jew, and he risks the anger of his own people for helping a Jew. Also, the Samaritan sacrifices a lot. His oil and wine medicate the man's wounds. He would have had to use his own clothing as bandages. He gave up his own beast of burden and walked so the wounded man could be transported. The Samaritan sacrificed his time and his money.

However, we don't get any sense that the Samaritan viewed his own actions as sacrifice. As Jesus tells it, the Samaritan didn't do what he did grudgingly. Instead, Jesus paints a picture of someone willing to do whatever it takes to rescue the wounded man. He practiced eager sacrifice.

How much of what I do in Jesus' name is a sacrifice I'm so eager to offer that I don't even think of it as being a sacrifice?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.