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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Wednesday, June 25, 2003 "Wired" |
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Frontline Devotion for June 25, 2003 By Penny Risen
What looked like a red and tan rag lay on the roadside as I drove down the hill.
In a rush after errands, I had little time before making the pickup as "car pool mom" for golf camp. But my irritation turned to horror as I saw my elderly neighbor sprawled face-first on the blacktop.
Dressed in a red shirt and khaki shorts, "Mr. Shepherd" didn't move as I rolled to a stop and ran from the car toward him. I gently touched his shoulder and he tried to turn his head. "At least he's conscious," I thought. "I'm going to be late."
He squinted in the noon sun, as blood gushed from cuts in his forehead and cheek. His hands and forearms, arched at his side as he tried to brace himself, were bloody too.
"I fell. I'm sorry. I live over there," he said softly, almost apologetically mumbling into the hot pavement.
He had Parkinson's and shouldn't be out alone, he explained, but, "It was a beautiful day for a walk." This was all he said, as I took over, struggling to lift him off the road and into my car.
Instead of dialing 911, I decided the heat and his wounds were his worst enemies. Get him home first and "Mrs. Shepherd" can call.
"Oh, man!" I thought, "He's got to be at least 6-foot-4 and I've got a bad back ...Better do something, or he'll bleed all over the seat!"Selfish thoughts wrestled with fear, as I reassured him and wrapped his head in a shirt from the dry cleaner bag.
"Now I'll have to tell my husband why he has one blue oxford shirt missing from his closet," I made a mental note. "Don't pass out!" I pleaded silently with my wounded passenger. "Please be home, I have to leave," I wished to Mrs. Shepherd. I found myself helping in spite of the urge not to help.
This accident with a happy ending happened to my neighbors and me last summer. But the remarkable thing is that it occurred soon after my pastor asked in a sermon for us all to pick someone to pray for daily. Pick someone, he said, different from us -- maybe someone a bit more difficult to love or show mercy to than others in our lives. I had randomly picked the Shepherds.
My son had dubbed these strangers on our block "Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd" because of their mean, yapping German Shepherd dog who harassed the kids from behind a fence at the bus stop. Mrs. Shepherd hadn't been shy about screaming at children to stay off her lawn or for other reasons.
But the accident changed everything: My neighbors now are my friends. The couple -- who were not victims of robbers but of age and isolation -- smile and wave to me when they walk together.
Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan rarely happens to us firsthand. But don't we face decisions everyday whether to show mercy to each other, to think of others as well as ourselves?
Would I have stopped my car if I hadn't been praying for these people? Probably.
A longtime college friend always teases me that I'm "wired" to help others: A switch turns on inside me and I can't stop myself. When I get frustrated from a slight or forgetfulness of a friend or coworker, my friend explains that others aren't always wired like me. "That's the way God made them," she'll note calmly, "and you can't get upset if their hearts don't react like yours."This is a barrier only if you make it one: Show mercy here too.
Jesus makes the point about this type of emotional and physical diversity in the parable, and it reminds us that Jesus came for all. He came even for the priest and the Levite who refused to help the wounded man on the road to Jericho.
Jesus' followers were not the kind of people some figured the "King of Kings" would gather around Him: He didn't hang out with the young, trendy, pretty people of his day. He hung out with the poor, the shunned, the crippled or sick, and with old friends who faced daily tragedies -- they learned from Jesus to be "wired" for mercy.
He didn't hang out with the wealthy at temple or with those who could chant perfectly at the high altar -- He hung out with the nearly penniless woman at the door, who only had one coin to give to her God. Was she "wired" for mercy?
His disciples had a few miles on them, gray hairs, maybe a few extra pounds. Many were people who had what today we'd label "baggage" or "a past" like Mary Magdalene, the former prostitute.
He had such a variety among His followers because He came to save us all.
We aren't Jesus: We have biases, and we like to hang out with people who are powerful or popular. We surround ourselves with those who stroke our egos, those who are diversions rather than true friends, or those who make us look good. We fall into "uncomplicated" relationships, because they aren't as demanding as those that involve extra care or time or mercy.
But Jesus calls on us as Christians to "Go and do likewise." To strive to serve all, to befriend all, to be good Samaritans not only when tragedy strikes but in everyday relationships. Jesus isn't asking us to be everything to everyone -- that is His job. We ARE to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated, with mercy.
Reach out to someone in need who is unlike yourself, or perhaps is a little harder to love. Jesus will open your eyes and your heart. He will help you to become wired to show mercy.
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, help me to put my prayers into actions for others, even when it's difficult to find the courage, the words or the time. Wire us to care so that your spark, the Holy Spirit, will move us -- when mercy is what a stranger or a friend needs the most. Amen.
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