Go and Do Likewise

I know it comes as no shock to anyone out there that the war in Syria has been on my mind a lot these past days. Prayers, thoughts of how I can help, prayers, wishing I could be there (but also knowing as a foreign woman I can't right now), prayers, shame over how the West is handling this, wondering where God is in all of this and what He will do, and oh yeah, praying.

Tonight, after watching a documentary on the war, I started thinking about responses I've received from people through the years whenever I've mentioned uncomfortable things, like this film was. I've spent a lot of time researching trafficking, street kids, war, orphans, poverty culture, etc. And it typically happens whenever I open my heart to share deeply about these things... there's one person who says something to the affect: "I don't know how you do that! I could never go/see/do those things..." This is usually followed by a shutting down and conversation change, but what I really want to do is stand on a chair and yell: "How in the world can you turn away and close your eyes? How can you call yourself a follower of Jesus and walk away from the lost, hurting, and powerless? How in the world can you not go, see, or do?!"

I get it... we live in the West where comfort is idolized above nearly everything else. Death is rarely a part of our lives, until we are really old. Sicknesses are treatable. We mostly all have driver's licenses and access to a car. We are educated so we can sit on our bottoms and hire out all manual labor. We can isolate ourselves from pain, discomfort, and ugly things... most of the time. But we sure are not going to go pursuing those things, if we don't have to!

Tonight after thinking about how sharing things often feels like yelling into the wind, I thought about Jesus. How He felt as He walked on this earth and 'shouted' a lot of things that seemed to fade into the wind. But then I remembered the story of the Good Samaritan, you know, the one where the 'good people' do nothing, and the 'enemy' rescues the man lying nearly dead on the side of the road?

I think the story would go something like this nowadays: "A man was going down from London to Paris, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A pastor happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a priest, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But an imam, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on peroxide and alcohol. Then he put the man in his own car, brought him to a hotel and took care of him. The next day he took out two hundred Euros and gave them to the manager, ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”