A priest, when he saw the man, passed by on the other side.  So, too, a Levite saw him and passed by on the other side.  But when a Samaritan came to where the man was … he went to him … (Luke 10:31-34).

What we do is heavily dependent on what we see … what we are willing to see.

The priest and Levite in this parable see a danger, a not-my-problem situation.  We don’t know what they were thinking or feeling, just what they did: passed by on the other side.  Kept a safe distance.  Didn’t look too closely.  Likely picked up the pace.

The Samaritan sees, he makes himself look, and, because of what he sees, he is moved with pity for the injured man.  He doesn’t try to solve the obvious local crime problem, but simply tries to rescue this one poor fellow traveler.  He doesn’t organize a neighborhood crime watch, write an impassioned letter to the editor, or send a check to the “proper” political candidate.  He doesn’t try to solve the problem of evil or analyze why bad things happen to good people.

He just does what he can.  Within his capacities, he acts like a neighbor towards the injured one.  As Lana pointed out so powerfully this week, being a Samaritan in Jewish country likely had given him opportunity to know a bit of what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a beating of some kind.

Most of Jesus’ parables leave us hanging, leave us with more questions than we had at the start (“Who is my neighbor?” seems simple enough, right?  I mean, don’t we all already know the answer to that one?)

Here are some questions left hanging in this parable:  What kind of conversation happened when the Samaritan checked back in with the injured man when he next was in the area (verse 35)?  What might the innkeeper have made of all of this?  

And the “expert in the law,” who got this ball rolling.  He seems to get it: Jesus asks, “Who was a neighbor?” and he replies, “The one who had mercy.”  “Right,” says Jesus; “now you go and do likewise” (verse 37).  But what does the expert in the law actually do next, and next after that?  Has he just heard an inspiring, uplifting story, or has Jesus really messed with his mind and with his life?

“Likewise” doesn’t mean to do everything that needs to be done, or to do exactly what the Good Samaritan did.  But at least it involves getting on the same side of the road, really looking at what’s happening there, and allowing ourselves to be moved with pity so that we act in mercy.

As you think about the current national situation, where is mercy needed?  Not to the exclusion of justice, redress and reform, just where is mercy needed?

As you think about your own life in the context of this story and our national situation, where might you need mercy?  And where and how might you show mercy this week?