A Concerned Servant: The Call for Humility

He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine.  Then he put the man on his donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

Luke 10:34

The Good Samaritan compulsively went to the abused and suffering Jew.  He allowed the compassion he was experiencing to travel deep into his being to the point that he was moved to even greater action.  His compassionate compulsion led to action.  A servant places himself at the disposal of another for service.  His compassion could not remain at the depth of his heart. 

The Samaritan’s compassion led to self-subordination.  This subordination is the willful lowering of oneself to a level at or below one’s normal station of life.  The Old Testament concept of hesed depicts this voluntary, intentional self-subordination.  Hesed is passionate, undeserved loyalty to someone, especially from one in a superior position.  Hesed always involves action.  It cannot be simply a concept to envision.  Hesed is a concept to emulate and live out.   

Several prominent Old Testament examples of hesed are David and Mephibosheh (1 Samuel 9:7); and Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 3:10).

         The concerned, humble servant relinquishes self-interests.  Philippa Carter expressed this in the following manner:

“God now calls his people to become weak and oppressed in the sense that rights and privileges that may be claimed often are to be surrendered.”

         The concerned servant willingly makes connections with others.  As this occurs, self-interests voluntarily are relinquished and subverted.

            The concerned, humble servant elevates the interest of others.

A Compassionate Neighbor: The Call to Serve Others

A man was going down to Jerusalem to Jericho,

when he fell into the hands of robbers.

They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed on the other side.

So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him,

passed on the other side.

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was;

and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

Luke 10:30-33

The Good Samaritan compassionately saw an injured man—a Jew.  He did not simply have sympathy on the man.  He was filled with compassion for a person who was thought of as a social and religious enemy of his countrymen.  The Samaritan empathized with the beaten man.  He felt his pain and hurt.

         The passerby observed the situation.  He saw and evaluated.  Observation is useful only to the extent that it leads to further evaluation and action.  Randy White, author and urban missiologist, writes:

“It is hard to drive unmoved past the gaping needs of the neighborhood unless one is totally hardhearted or suffering from a serious case of denial.”

        The Samaritan could have passed by on the other side, as had the priest and the Levite, brethren of the injured one.  But his observation led to further action—he took pity.