Mankind Is My Business

I dropped the ball last week. Let me explain.

I’ve had a couple of incredibly busy weeks, the details of which are irrelevant. One day last week I was moving like a mad man, so for lunch I just grabbed a sandwich while I was out. As I headed back to the office to inhale my sandwich I saw what appeared to be a homeless man at an intersection. Something inside me said, "Give him your sandwich."

I ignored it.

I have prayed for that man more times than I can count since that day......and I've prayed for myself, too!

We’ve all heard that we need to stop and smell the roses. Forget the roses, we need to slow down and love mankind. I’m reminded of Charles Dickens’ character, Jacob Marley, in "A Christmas Carol." He said, "Mankind is my business!" And isn’t mankind our business?
There’s a story in Luke’s Gospel about this:

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"

The man answered, "‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!" Luke 10:25_28

If you had to boil all of the commandments of God down to no more than a sentence, Jesus confirmed it would read something like this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and also love your neighbor as yourself.

There is a connection between our love for God and our love for others. There is a connection between the compassion we receive from God and the compassion we extend to our neighbors.
But the lawyer in this exchange with Jesus pressed in like a prosecutor, drilling for a specific definition of neighbor. Luke writes, "The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus,
‘And who is my neighbor?’" (10:29)

Being a gentle teacher, Jesus didn’t answer directly (or even crack any lawyer jokes). He told a story many of us are familiar with, about a man beaten and left for dead on the road to Jericho. First, a priest walked by, and seeing the man, crossed to the other side of the road. Then, an assistant at the Temple who was in charge of purity and tithing walked by, and seeing the injured man, he crossed to the other side of the road.

Finally, a man from a despised race, a Samaritan, walked by and stopped. He treated the man’s injuries and then took him to a nearby inn, paying for his care and lodging until he could get back on his feet.

"Who," Jesus asked, "was the injured man’s neighbor?"

The lawyer responded, "The one who showed him mercy." "That’s right," Jesus said, "Now go and do the same." (Luke 10:37)

Here’s the deal. I know this story. I’ve read it many times. I’ve taught it.

But I didn’t live it last week. (No one ever said transparency was fun!)

When the lawyer faced Jesus, he tried to justify his current behavior, instead of allowing Jesus to teach him the compassionate behavior. In other words, the lawyer was trying to bend the scriptures to match his behavior when he should have been changing his behavior to match the scriptures.

This story clearly shows us that relationship triumphs over religion. It was the religious people who walked by, and it was the despised Samaritan who helped the injured man. Friends, Jesus is less interested in religion – rituals and rules – than He is in compassionate relationships; it is compassion in relationships that reveals the heart of God, not the following of religious rules.

Can I encourage you this week to slow down and see people this week? I’m not talking about seeing them with your eyes, but seeing them with your heart. Remember the end of the story? The lawyer learned that it was the Samaritan who had done the right thing - shown the man mercy.

So I encourage you with the words of Jesus to the lawyer: "Now go and do the same." (Luke 10:37)

I’m praying for you, friends......thanks for doing the same for me.