Perhaps Today Is A Good Day to Die
~ Klingon Proverb
The Lord loves you, devotedly and individually, loves you just as you are…. Accustom yourself to the wonderful thought that God loves you with a tenderness, a generosity, and an intimacy that surpasses all your dreams. Give yourself up with joy to a loving confidence in God and have courage to believe firmly that God’s action toward you is a masterpiece of partiality and love. Rest tranquilly in this abiding conviction.
~Abbe Henri de Tourville (1842-1903)
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
~ Luke 10:25-37
What enables a hated, social outcast like this Samaritan to detour from his business and help a dying man?
Duty? Honor? Country? There is absolutely nothing wrong with these virtues. They are, in fact, values worth dying for. They are just not enough to motivate this kind of lavish, over-the-top action towards one’s brother.
No, it went deeper than this. This man showed mercy to another man. He showed mercy to a man who was both an enemy and a stranger. He selflessly gave up his time, safety, finances, transportation, business activity, and talent to help another. This death to self is a more difficult death, for most, than being willing to take a bullet in combat.
Why is it so hard for so many of us to act in like manner towards others around us? Could it be, beloved, that we don’t know and receive that we are – in fact – beloved?
We love because He first loved us.
~ 1 John 4:19
We look at the problems that crop up around us, and they make us sad. But we are afraid to let them move us. Because if we are moved, we may use up the tiny little supply of love and comfort we have squirreled away in our souls. If we give that last morsel away, we are afraid that there will be none left – and we will again be left with that horrible emptiness in our existence.
And all the while… we are missing the truth that there is an infinite G_d who is both Love itself AND omnipresent. We are swimming in the Love of an infinitely loving G_d. We have but to open ourselves to it – and it would literally flood our being.
And we hold our breath.
Could it be that this Samaritan knew a secret? This writer thinks he did. This Samaritan had, somewhere on the road of his own life, experienced the Loving-kindness (the literal translation of the word ‘mercy’) of our loving G_d. That, in and of himself, he was messed up and needed help himself. This man had died to the concept that he was good, had his own purposes to fulfill in life – and needed to be about his own business. And, in having experienced this infinite Loving-kindness (which comes to fill in what has just died away) – then walking in it – he was able to simply open himself to the need before him and let that same Loving-kindness pour out on an enemy-stranger on the road. He had everything he needed to do the job. And the Source of His power was going to protect him all the way through the venture.
Said simply: The Samaritan did not really do any of this in his own strength. He simply showed the mercy he had already been shown, to another who needed to see it.
Just breath Him in beloved. Breath.
God has in himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you.
~Thomas Benton Brooks (1608-1680)
