Tending to the Broken, Tending to Christ

I have tried so hard. I have given all that I have. And yet here I  am, lying by the side of the road, beaten and left for dead. My head throbs. The sun dries the blood on my face. I feel my life fading. Is this the way that it is going to end? 

A priest passes by. He is tall. He is well-respected. I am a man of no importance. He can tell by my cloak. And he believes that if misfortune has befallen me, it must be something that I have done wrong: God is punishing me. 

A Levite passes by. He is absorbed in important thoughts. Too important to notice. Unconcerned. Oblivious to my battered body by the side of the road. 

They do not see. They do not care. They just pass by. The opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. 

I had thought that my time in the wilderness was to be a forty-day test. I did not know that it would be my end. My God, I am afflicted and in pain. You hear the cry of the poor. Do not abandon me! 

Gentle hands reach under my shoulders. Liquid bathes my wounds. Warm animal fur brushes my cheek. I turn to look for the man’s eyes. I see a man who cares. He knows what it is like to be cast off, to be tossed to the side, to be uncared for. He is a Samaritan.  He knows.

I am not done living yet. I have much more loving and serving to do on this earth. 

I will be beaten again. My head will bleed again. From the cross,  tender hands will again lift me. But I am not dead yet. This is not the time. This is not the place. 

Consider/Discuss 

• The Law of the Lord is written in our hearts, very near to us. We know that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We only have to carry it out.  Yet how often do we go swashbuckling through life, unaware of those who are broken on the road beside us? To what or to whom are we indifferent and/or desensitized? How can we begin to see what we do not see? 
• Have you ever felt left by the side of the road, beaten and battered, ignored  by those with power and influence? Where have you turned for help in  that situation? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

We turn to you, Lord, in our need. You live and move and  breathe among us. You see what we do. You know that we tend  to judge ourselves favorably. Sometimes we are so full of ego that we indifferently walk by you and we do not even see. Sometimes we ourselves are the ones lying by the road, broken and bleeding,  and we cannot acknowledge our pain. Sometimes we think that we have been the Good Samaritan who has gently reached under your shoulders and lifted you up. And maybe we have. And maybe we haven’t. You have said that when we reach out to the least of yours,  we do it for you. Strengthen our compassion this day. Show us how to truly care for our neighbor.