The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan
One semester, a seminary professor set up his preaching class in an unusual way. He schduled his students to preach on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and on the day of the class, he choreographed his experiment so that each student would go, one at a time,
from one classroom to another where he or she would preach a sermon.

The professor gave some students ten minutes to go from one room to the other; to others he allowed less time, forcing them to rush in order to meet the schedule. Each student, one at a time, had to walk down a certain corridor and pass by a bum, who was deliberately planted there, obviously in need of some sort of aid.

The results were surprising, and offered a powerful lesson to them. The percentage of
those good men and women who stopped to help was extremely low, especially for those
who were under the pressure of a shorter time period. The tighter the schedule, the fewer
were those who stopped to help the indigent man.

When the professor revealed his experiment, you can imagine the impact on that class of future spiritual leaders. Rushing to preach a sermon on the Good Samaritan they had
walked past the beggar at the heart of the parable.

We must have eyes to see as well as hands to help, or we may never help at all.

I think this well-known poem expresses it powerfully:
I was hungry and you formed a humanities
club to discuss my hunger.
Thank you.
I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly
to your chapel to pray for my release.
Nice.
I was naked and in your mind you debated
the morality of my appearance.
What good did that do?
I was sick and you knelt and thanked God
for your health.
But I needed you.
I was homeless and you preached to me of
the shelter of the love of God.
I wish you'd taken me home.
I was lonely and you left me alone to pray
for me.
Why didn't you stay?
You seem so holy, so close to God; but
I'm still very hungry, lonely, cold, and still in pain.
Does it matter?
~Author Unknown
(Sharing from Treasury Bible Illustrations)

" . . . if there be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, think on these things."