If we knew the cares and the trials, knew the
efforts all in vain and the bitter disappointment,
understood the loss and gain, would the grim
eternal roughness seem, I wonder, just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder? Should we...
pity where we blame? Or we judge each other harshly,
knowing not life's hidden force, knowing not
the fount of action is less turbid at its source.
See not amid the evil all the golden grains of
good. We'd love each other better if we only
understood. Could we judge all deeds by motives
that surround each other's lives? See the naked
heart and spirit and know what spur the action
gives. Often we should find it better, purer
than we judge we should. We would love each other
better if we only understood. A question is asked
in the 10th chapter of Luke. Who is my neighbor?
Here we have one human example in the Bible which
Jesus asks us to imitate. One of whom he says,
go and Do thou likewise. This is vitally important.
It is important to you. It is important to me.
Because Jesus makes a very definite statement.
Go and do thou likewise. Now this sentence is
found in the final statement of the parable of
the Good Samaritan. and is found in Luke's Gospel,
the 10th chapter. Read it. Read it often. Sometimes
I think it would be well if we read it daily.
For surely we shall do well to ponder often the
words of Jesus. And with all faithfulness, the
parable of the Good Samaritan in which Jesus
said, to the lawyer. Go and do thou likewise.
And the master was referring to a man who gave
his time, gave his money, his sympathy, his service,
himself. He'd given all of these things to help
his fellow men. Sure, he was not speaking to
one. who had not given of his money. He was not
speaking to one who had not given his service.
The man to whom he said these words had given
his sympathy. He'd given his help to his fellow
man. Oh, look at this wonderful parable. We would
do well to ponder upon this parable. This parable
will continue to challenge even... startle us
by its lesson as to the noble and the unselfish
behavior as man to man. Indeed, the story of
the Good Samaritan is one of the most instructive.
It's one of the most challenging to be found
in the entire Bible. It's so simple that a little
child can readily understand it. And at the same
time, its message is so profound. that the great
ones of the earth often stumble over it. It is
so profound that the message of this parable
is needed in the hour in which you and I live.
It is the answer to the condition of the world
today. Now pause just a moment. Consider the
occasion of the parable. It's quite familiar
to all of us. We see a lawyer who's listening
to Jesus and said to him, Master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus replied
to him, What is written in the law? What readest
thou? And the lawyer said, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart. with all thy
soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength,
and thy neighbor as thyself. Thou hast answered
right, Jesus said. This do, and thou shalt live.
But the lawyer, desiring to justify himself,
said, And who is my neighbor? And then it was
that Jesus gave us this parable of the Good Samaritan
in which he evidently meant to teach us several
things, important things. He meant to teach all
of us that our neighbors are all those who need
us and the help that we can give them, no matter
who they are or where they live, any man, any
woman, Any person who needs my help is my neighbor.
Any person who needs your help, any person that
you can help is your neighbor. Now that teaching
pushes back the horizons of our personal responsibility
to the limits of humanity. Oh, it's easy to help
our family. We feel morally obligated to do so.
But when it comes beyond our family, you know,
our eyes are blinded. We kind of feel like our
responsibility is lifted. Maybe we will go a
little further and feel our responsibility to
the one who lives just in the same block that
we do, or just several hundred feet from our
back door. And we classify that one as our neighbor.
And our help never goes beyond that. Our responsibility
never goes beyond that. And sometimes I think
few people even feel the responsibility that
far. If we are to obey the teachings of Jesus
and follow his example, then there can be no
room for petty... differences. There can be no
room for racial prejudices. There can be no room
for caste systems which erect barriers between
us and between those who need us and the services
that we can render them. And then Jesus meant
also to give that lawyer and to give all of us
for all time an example of True benevolence in
this parable of the Good Samaritan. First of
all, you have the picture of a man in suffering,
a man afflicted. A very common thing. The world
is filled with such. The world is filled with
trouble. The world is filled with suffering and
afflicted people. Oh, look around you. Look around
you and see the suffering. And we're told that
the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, down which
the unfortunate man of the parable traveled,
has long been a perilous road, a bloody road.
Formerly, it was infested with robbers. And he
was on this road when something happened. Now
then, in this parable, two other men appear in
the story. Down that road from Jerusalem to Jericho
came a priest who saw the beaten, bruised, suffering,
half -dead man lying beside the road. But the
priest passed by on the other side. A Levite
who also saw the wounded man and also passed
by on the other side. How wretched, how contemptible,
how wicked the behavior of these two men. I'm
giving you the word of God. Their conduct was
without excuse. Both of them came face to face
with a case of desperate need. Both saw the man
in need. Both saw the man in deep and dire despair.
Both of them claimed to be religious men. Both
were religious men. They both had an opportunity
and a corresponding obligation to help a desperately
needy human being. By their conduct, they rejected
the opportunity and denied the obligation. Mm
-hmm. Now, there was another man of another spirit
who came down this same road, saw the same victim
of the robber, saw the same man in his awful
plight. He was moved with compassion. Oh, I believe
that one of the greatest needs in the world today
is compassion. Really, there's so little of compassion
left in the world today that we have forgotten
that there is such a thing as compassion. And
when compassion is manifested, the world looks
upon that one as being a little weak. A little
overwrought. Or perhaps a little too emotional.
He was moved with compassion. And he went to
the victim. He bound up his wounds, poured in
oil to heal and to soothe. He lifted the man
to his breast and went along helping him. Supporting
him with his own strength. He took him to an
inn down the road. He cared for him through the
night. And when the morning came, he paid the
innkeeper the bill and said, Keep him here as
long as he ought to be kept. Don't let him get
out too soon. Take good care of him. Look after
him. I'll be back and pay the bill, whatever
it is. And then Jesus said, Which now of these
three thinkest thou was a neighbor to him that
fell among thieves? Or the man that helped him,
of course. Very well, said Jesus. Go and do thou
likewise. What was the difference in these men?
It was a difference in spirit. A man is to build
his life not on petty rules, but on great principles.
As ye would that men should do unto you, do ye
also to them likewise. Beloved, here is a great
principle, and sometimes I think humanity has
forgotten what principle really is. We have forgotten
so many vitally important things. We have forgotten
compassion. We have forgotten principle. How
would you like for the other man to treat you
if you were... beaten and bruised and mangled
on the roadside. How would you like for him to
treat you? What would you like for him to do
for you? That great principle will guide you
in determining who is your neighbor and what
your duties are in regard to him. This principle
has been called the Golden Rule. Perhaps it was...
Better to call it the golden principle. Jesus
did not give us a set of rules. Rather, he gave
us great universal principles which we are to
apply to our individual problems. Take another
of the great Christian principles. Take this
one for instance. as we have therefore opportunity
let us do good unto all men or another for instance
whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do
all to the glory of god you still another seek
ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness
and all these things shall be added unto you
The Christian life is based on great principles.
Wonderful principles. And when you forget those
principles, you get into trouble. And the world
has forgotten certain Christian principles, and
we're in a mess. Years ago, I heard someone tell,
of an incident in the life of Dwight Lyman Moody.
It was during the time of a great influenza epidemic
in Chicago. They were dying. Thousands died.
During this time of this great epidemic, Mr.
Moody had worked for days and days, caring for
the sick, conducting funeral services, burying
the dead. And he came home one night just exhausted.
He said, I can't do more. I'm so exhausted myself.
And then came the call that a little girl had
just died. The parents were frantic. It was their
only child. Willie said, I'll go. And his little
daughter, Emma, said, Daddy, can I go along with
you? He said, All right, honey. They came to
the humble dwelling and Mr. Moody tired in body
prayed a few minutes and then left the home.
And he and his little girl walked in silence
down the street. Finally, she broke the silence
by saying, Daddy, I was just thinking if that
would have been me instead of that little girl,
would you have felt bad? He was so startled.
He would have felt as though the bottom of the
world had dropped out. Had that been his little
girl? What if it had been his little girl? He
clasped her hand and then he picked her up and
hugged her and carried her home the rest of the
way. Put her down inside of his home. Kissed
her. And said, honey, your mother will put you
to bed. I'm going back to the home where the
little girl died. And they stayed in that home
all that night, sympathizing with the father,
with the mother, arranging for the funeral service.
Did everything in the world humanly possible.
gave of his love, gave everything that a human
being could give to another, even though they
were perfect strangers to him. The whole time
hearing the voice of his own little girl, I was
just thinking if that had been me instead of
that. Would you have felt bad? Yes. Put yourself
in the place of another. Put yourself in the
other man's shoes. We should love each other
better if we only... Understood.