Author and minister John Ortberg delivered a sermon to his congregation a couple of years ago around Christmas. In that sermon he told a story about a classic study of faith and compassion that was done by Princeton seminary several decades ago. In this study there were two groups of seminary students; each group was given a topic and told to go to a different location (in a different building) and deliver a talk. As they went, one at a time, each one came across a man in need. (This was actually a set-up, but they didn’t know that.) The man was slumped in an alley, semi-conscious, groaning a little – obviously in some kind of trouble.Most of the students (remember, they were seminary students) did not offer help, they didn’t even stop to check on him, ask him a question, anything. Ironically, the topic the students were given to speak on involved the story of the Good Samaritan. How shocking is that? Students who had just read the parable of the Good Samaritan and were on their way to give a talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan were no more likely to stop and help the hurting guy in the alley than students who hadn’t just read or thought about that section of scripture. Ortberg made the point that it isn’t just hearing or reading the story that makes people stop and help.
However, the study did find this. One fact that made a big difference was how much of a hurry the student was in. They found that the students who were in a "low-hurry" category were 600% more likely to help or to notice than people who were in a “high-hurry” category. Wow. The study found that "compassion becomes a luxury as the speed of life increases." Ortberg observed that one of the reasons the issue of hurrying is so important is not so that we may have a more pleasant life. He makes the point that we cannot come and do and go as Jesus would have if we live in a chronic hurry.
Ouch.
Maybe I need to rethink my concept of open eyes. Certainly I’m going to try to give myself some extra time so that I am more likely to notice others and see those who might be in need. I wonder if that’s why I sometimes have to think hard about the last time I saw someone who was really in need.
- Sheree Yasko Hill
Day 5 of the 40-Days Toward a Life of Compassion Workbook ends with this challenge:"let’s take a moment and consider all the characters in the story: the robbers, the beaten traveler, the priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and the innkeeper. As you imagine each of these characters, what might have been some of their thoughts and feelings? In what ways have you been like each of these characters? In what ways would you like to be different than some or all of these characters? How will you become more like the person you want to be tomorrow?"
I really want to see myself as the Samaritan. I guess if I’m open about it, I just want to see myself as one of the good guys. I want to think that I would reach out to the battered soul on the side of the road.
The problem is that not everyone on the side of the road looks as obviously beaten and vulnerable. In fact, maybe the real question in the story doesn’t have to do with who my neighbor is, as much as with the question, "What kind of neighbor am I?" As Sheree Hill challenges us in this journey, the whole issue of being the good neighbor lies within my own eyes, heart and hands.
So as I look at the characters in the story again, I want to grow in two key areas:
1) As I walk, drive, or ride in my daily life, I want to see my world with godly compassion, and not as if they are in my way or even just on my way. I am asking God to help me see myself as a servant to others. This would grow me more like the Samaritan.
2) But I also want to grow to be more like the innkeeper. I don’t just go to the world. Sometimes the world comes to me. How will I receive others when they come to me? Will they find me caring, open, willing?
- Don McLaughlin
